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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 Virgil find in the dirt?

2. To where did Curtis move?

3. What is Nora’s cultural heritage?

4. What does Sae Young grow?

5. Where is Amir from?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does everyone in the garden want to help the girls in the chapter “Maricela”?

3. How does Leona help Maricela see things differently?

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

5. Describe what happened to make Sae Young afraid of the world.

6. Describe Sam’s contest, and the winning idea.

7. Describe what Nora does to allow Mr. Myles to garden.

8. What does Amir learn about his misconceptions of cultures?

9. What is Nora’s relationship with Mr. Myles?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Maricela’s story is a very powerful one in the novel. Describe Maricela’s life at the beginning of the novel. Why does she feel so persecuted? What does she hope for? Who changes this, and why? How does the garden help her to begin to accept her state, and her future?

Essay Topic 2

What is the importance of Kim in the novel? She is present in the opening of the novel as the pioneer of the garden, and she is the first at the end of the novel to go back and begin planting in the spring. She is also mentioned in Wendell’s chapter as the child who gave him hope. What do you think the significance of this is?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the characters of Ana and Amir. What are their similarities? What are their differences? How do these characters lead readers to different lessons pertaining to the power of human kind?

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