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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 has Tio Juan become?

2. What does Wendell do the following Monday?

3. How long had Kim not been tending the plants?

4. What word does Sam use for the garden?

5. What did Kim’s father do for a living?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How do the plants give Wendell hope?

4. What is the “Garcia Equation”?

5. How does Leona finally convince the city officials to meet with her?

6. Why does Kim wonder about whether her father sees her?

7. Why does Gonzalo end up having to “babysit” his uncle?

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

9. What is the problem with water in the lot, and how does Sam deal with it?

10. Why does Leona want to plant goldenrod?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Going back through the characters, list the cultural heritage each comes from. How diverse is this neighborhood? Would the garden have been as amazing had the neighborhood been predominately white or Hispanic? Why or why not? How did the activities in the garden go from what Sam noted, a mirror of a segregated society, to what Amir noted, as a harvest feast among a cultural melting pot?

Essay Topic 2

In several chapters in the novel, characters go from being unable to function in society, to being a vital part of a thriving garden. How did this happen for Sae Young, Nora’s client, and Tio Juan? Why did the garden help them? How did it allow them a chance to become something they otherwise could not have been?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 774 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample