View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How many times does Makina think she has arrived, only to find out that she has to keep going?

2. Which statue does Makina need to look for next?

3. What does Makina’s brother say made him confident about taking this job?

4. How does Makina characterize the shift in the people’s language in America?

5. What kind of language do Mexicans speak on the other side?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Makina’s reaction when she sees her brother?

2. How does Makina find the boy from the bus?

3. How does the narrator describe Makina's transition from one city to the next?

4. What does Makina find at the address she has been traveling toward?

5. Why does Makina’s brother say he did not return after the land fiasco?

6. What kind of omen does the light in the sky give Makina when she arrives at the address?

7. What were the three messages Makina’s brother sent home?

8. How does the narrator describe the boy whose place Makina’s brother took, in the army?

9. How does Makina say she found her brother?

10. What does the arresting cop tell Makina when he corrals her with the other immigrants?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Herrera describe American culture in Signs Preceding the End of the World? Is he critical and judgmental? Is he aiming for truth and accuracy? What does his depiction of American culture accomplish?

Essay Topic 2

Explore the role of the helper characters in Signs Preceding the End of the World. From Chucho to the old women and men, Makina gets assistance from a number of places. What do these supporting characters have in common? How do they compare to the characters who threaten Makina? What do those characters have in common as well?

What are the values that animate supporting characters on either side? How do these supporting characters, both benevolent and threatening, imply competing world views?

Essay Topic 3

Who is the audience for Signs Preceding the End of the World? What is the ideal reader for Signs Preceding the End of the World likely to think about the book’s main topics? How does this book try to affect the reader? What is it trying to teach him or her, or get him or her to do?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 799 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample