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

2. What does Makina’s brother’s third note say?

3. What does the man at the land her brother had gone to tell Makina was there from the beginning?

4. What did the family expect Makina’s brother to do for them?

5. At what time of day does Makina arrive at the address she is looking for?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. What does Makina learn about the job her brother took?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When is Signs Preceding the End of the World most itself? What is its characteristic passage, or moment? What makes that moment or passage the most representative of the book as a whole? Are there any places where the book seems to depart from its typical self, as if to become a different book?

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

Assess Herrera’s novel as a contribution to contemporary discussions of immigration in the U.S. What is Herrera saying, and how does it fit with perspectives other commentators or elected officials are taking? Whose arguments can Herrera be said to be backing? Which arguments is his book a refutation of?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 810 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample