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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 Nora use to allow Mr. Myles to plant?

2. Why does Royce sleep in the garden?

3. What does Mr. Myles command with a wave of his arm?

4. What happens to one of the dealers at the lot in the chapter “Virgil”?

5. Why do cats like the garden?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Curtis, as he is now, in terms of his priorities.

2. Explain why Virgil becomes angry and ashamed at his father.

3. What is Mr. Myles’ reaction to the garden?

4. What is the point of the program for teen mothers?

5. Why does Nora want to tell the tourists of the garden?

6. What causes Sae Young to feel a part of the community again?

7. How does Amir compare the U.S. to India?

8. Explain what happens during the rainstorm.

9. What is Curtis trying to show through the growth of the tomatoes?

10. Explain Sae Young’s life prior to her “accident”?

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

Several times in the novel, the characters mention that the community garden gives them hope. Wendell, in particular, notes that he can’t change his life, but he can use the garden to change his circumstances. Sae Young, too, uses the garden to enhance her existence, as does Nora, and other characters. Choose three characters, and explain how the garden has given them hope, or changed their lives.

Essay Topic 3

How does the author use the characters to intertwine with one another? Going back through the novel, can you see links in each story to other characters? Give at least four examples of this. Why do you think the character added some of these connected details?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 825 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample