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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 happens when Leticia touches fresh market goods?

2. When he sees the cow, what does the General immediately remember?

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

4. When does the General finally consummate his relationship with Leticia?

5. How do Leticia and Emanuel die?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the successful assassination attempt.

2. What does Bendicion Alvarado try to tell the General as she is dying?

3. Describe the occurrence the General believes to be a miracle.

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

5. Why does the General's plan to overthrow the U.S. forces fail?

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

7. How does Monsignor Demetrius Aldous investigate Bendicion Alvarado for sainthood?

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

9. How is Bendicion Alvarado mourned?

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

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 role of education in the novel. Is it significant that the General, despite his absolute power, is illiterate for much of his term? Is it at all significant that the General's wife is the person who teaches him to read? Why or why not? How does literacy and education surface in other ways in the novel? What might Garcia Marquez be saying about the nature or necessity of education? Be sure to support your argument with specific evidence from the text.

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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