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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Sam note at the end of his Chapter about the garden?

2. Why was Tio Juan distraught?

3. What did Leona’s grandma lay on the graves of her physicians?

4. Who does Ana see burying something from her window?

5. Where is Kim living?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sam try to make people in the neighborhood friendlier?

2. Describe the bottle incident, and Sam’s fears.

3. How does gardening help Tio Juan in the chapter “Gonzalo”?

4. Why do you think Ana attempts to correct her mistake?

5. Why does Ana describe her neighborhood in terms of the cultures within it?

6. What is the “Garcia Equation”?

7. What tragedies has Wendell experienced, and what are the effects on his life?

8. Why do you think Wendell becomes attached to the bean plants, as Ana did?

9. Why does Ana purchase binoculars at the end of the chapter titled “Ana”?

10. What are Leona’s experiences with calling the city?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Briefly go through each of the characters in the novel, and explain how the garden helped to improve their lives, circumstances, or outlook on life. Be sure to include details of each story to show an understanding of how the garden affected the characters.

Essay Topic 2

Royce does not have a chapter in the novel, and yet he is mentioned by several characters. Who mentions him, and why? What does Royce’s character bring to the novel that enhances the author’s message? What is Royce’s background, and how do people see him originally? How does this change over the course of the novel, and why?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, the characters mention fighting a number of stereotypes. Choose three characters from the book, and explain how their lives have been impacted by the stereotypes either about them, held by others, or held by them about others. How do these stereotypes damage their relationships with others? What, if anything, changes them in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 808 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample