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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’s brother say typically initiated periods of activity for him and his fellow soldiers?

2. What would happen if Makina’s brother died during the time at war?

3. What does the woman tell Makina about her brother’s condition when he showed up?

4. Which of the four places with the same name does Makina want?

5. What is the first thing Makina thinks when she sees her brother?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Makina’s brother describe his experience of war?

4. What is it about the people she meets in the city that excites Makina?

5. What does Makina’s brother say happened to him after he went to the land?

6. What does Makina think she will do if they tell her bad news?

7. How does Makina say she found her brother?

8. Who does Makina find at the address she gets from the restaurant?

9. What does Makina learn about her brother from the old woman?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate Signs Preceding the End of the World as a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age narrative.

What are the challenges Makina face in rites of passage in this novel? How do they overcome these challenges, and what do they learn at each stage? Are they complete human beings at the end of the novel, or do they die too early to learn all the lessons a person would need to learn?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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