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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 Makina see as a good omen, when she gets across the river?

2. Why does Makina feel guilty about making her trip?

3. How does Makina say the people look when they leave the supermarket and return to the street?

4. What is Mr. P patting while he talks with Makina?

5. What does Makina feel as she makes her way through the mountains?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of relationship does Makina have with her boyfriend?

2. How does Mr. P. help Makina in her quest?

3. Who is Makina?

4. What does Makina say immigrants carried in their rucksacks?

5. What does Makina have to establish in her meetings with each of the three top dogs?

6. What has Makina brought with her on her trip to the other side?

7. How does the narrator describe the city Makina arrives in?

8. What does Makina think is killing her when the novel opens?

9. What makes Makina impatient to finish the errand her mother has given her?

10. What is the obsidian mound that gives this chapter its name?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Assess the nature and quality of Makina’s relationships with boys in Signs Preceding the End of the World. Who does she have relations with, and what are the assumptions that guide those relationships? Are all of her relationships similar, or are there qualitative differences between her relationships? What do her relationships with boys tell us about her character?

Essay Topic 2

What topics would you like to research further, after reading Signs Preceding the End of the World? Describe why additional research or reading would be beneficial to an understanding of this book. Propose a list of articles or books you would read in order to get a better handle on Signs Preceding the End of the World.

Essay Topic 3

How would you rewrite Signs Preceding the End of the World, if you were to adapt it and make it your own? What part of the book would you preserve? What part would you change? Explain your motivation for the changes you would make.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 710 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample