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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 Patricio Aragnoes drink in order to forget how to read and write?

2. What does the General flavor his water with?

3. At what time did the General always begin the day?

4. The General is determined to wipe out every conservative regime from where to where?

5. Which craft does Manuela Sanchez's mother make?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the people react to the General's second death? Why do they react this way?

2. Why does the General relocate his mother to a mansion in the suburbs?

3. How does the good fishwife unwittingly prove her loyalty to the General? Describe her actions.

4. Who is the only man to survive the meeting of the Federalist Generals and how does he survive?

5. How are the leaders of a failed rebellion killed?

6. What is the General's "first death"? Describe the circumstances and provide details.

7. How does Saturno Santos come to work for the General and why must he stop?

8. What happens when a man's bird wins against the General's in a cockfight?

9. How does Patricio Aragones feel toward the President?

10. How does the General respond to Patricio Aragones's dying diatribe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, Garcia Marquez seamlessly slides between narrative voices ranging from the group of citizens who find the General's body to the General to the school girl the General molests. How would you describe this form of narration? Is it stream of consciousness? Is it free indirect discourse (a technique in which the novelist enters the minds of multiple characters to present different perspectives)? Do their stories line up or are they divergent? Are there contradictions within the narrative? What is the overall effect of these various voices? Support your essay with details from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the novelist's play with time and space. How would you characterize the concept of time in this novel? How does the General transcend the worldly limitations of time and space? What is the significance of Garcia Marquez's play with these concepts in the novel? What is the overall message or effect? Provide specific support for your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, General Saturno Santos is referred to as "the Indian." How does Garcia Marquez treat the indigenous culture and people of "the nation"? Why is Santos consistently referred to as the Indian? How does this character reflect on the indigenous people of "the nation"? Be sure to consider the colonial history of the nation and its effect on the people.

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This section contains 937 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample