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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 is Bendicion Alvarado's coffin filled with, to keep her body from rotting?

2. What act of state importance does Emanuel perform from his baby carriage?

3. How does the General learn to read?

4. How does Leticia legally steal from merchants at the market?

5. What is Demetrius Aldous's nickname?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the encounter between the General and the school girl narrator in Chapter 6.

2. What does Monsignor Demetrius Aldous discover about Bendicion Alvarado?

3. Explain the conditions under which Jose Ignacio Saenz de la Barra is allowed to operate the torture chamber.

4. How does the General learn how to read?

5. How is Bendicion Alvarado mourned?

6. What are the contents of the sack which appears to be full of coconuts?

7. How does Jose Ignacio Saenz de la Barra attempt to undermine the General?

8. Describe the circumstances under which the General meets Leticia Nazareno.

9. How does Leticia force the General to marry her?

10. Describe the successful assassination attempt.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the treatment of children in this novel. At various stages of the General's rule, we are confronted with potentially disturbing treatment of children. From the indiscriminate fathering of thousands of children to the imprisonment and slaughter of the two thousand children under seven whose job it is to control the lottery, the General commits many acts of violence against children. Why does Garcia Marquez include these acts in the novel? What does this treatment accomplish? How does it affect our perception of the General? Provide specific details from the novel as support for your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Death is a consistent motif throughout the entire novel. Main characters die gruesome deaths and the General's death is described in vivid detail throughout the novel. How does death, especially the General's repeated deaths, play into the novel as a whole? Consider the repetition of the moments of death as well as the death imagery which pervades the novel. Be sure to focus your critique on specific evidence from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

How does Garcia Marquez handle violence in this novel? Why do so many characters meet such violent--often undeserved--ends? Think, for instance, of the two thousand children under the age of seven. Is this violence gratuitous, or does it contribute to a greater political statement? Support your answers using evidence from the novel.

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