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. What did Makina’s brother eat until he recovered after discovering there was nothing at the land he had gone to see?

2. Makina says that the language she hears in the U.S. contains both ancient memory and what other trait?

3. What does the cop tell Makina to do?

4. Why is Makina surprised by the man who opens the door at the address the woman from the restaurant gave her?

5. What distinguishes Makina’s travel from one city to another?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. Who does Makina meet at the army base before she meets her brother?

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

7. What drives Makina to take shelter in an ATM booth?

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

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

10. How does Makina free herself and the others who have been collected by the cop?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Compare and contrast Makina’s character with other plucky and resourceful female characters you have read. How are they similar, how are they different? Is Makina a type, whose behavior is consistent with others cut from her mold, or is she a unique individual?

Essay Topic 3

Identify the most important plot points in Signs Preceding the End of the World. What is at stake in each of these moments? What possibilities do these moments present, and how are those possibilities channeled into specific actions or events? How does the plot chart its course among other alternative or possible plots?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 834 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample