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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 men decided to join the Coyote who advocated for a change of plans?

2. What alternate plan did one of the Coyotes suggest after it became clear they were lost?

3. How many watering holes did Mendez miss while traveling through Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge?

4. Why does Urrea voice skepticism that Mendez truly believed the lights came from Border Patrol agents?

5. What failed attempt did the men make to signal for help the night after their Coyotes left?

Short Essay Questions

1. What mistake did the Coyotes make when the men arrived at the big rock?

2. What did Mendez do to upset Rafael Temich?

3. What happens to the expedition led by Santos?

4. How does Urrea describe Reymundo Sr.'s treatment of his son?

5. How did getting lost affect the walkers' opinion of the human smugglers?

6. What are the initial signs of heat stress?

7. How did Maradona change the Coyotes' plans at the last minute?

8. According to Urrea, what do people crossing the desert have to resort to doing "sooner or later" (126).

9. Why did Mendez tell the men to pretend that they were going to San Luis?

10. What are the toilets of budget border motels incapable of doing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Though The Devil's Highway is a non-fiction book, in incorporates many poeticized and fictionalized passages. Choose one or more passages from the book incorporating a poetic or literary technique such as stanzas, dialogue, metaphor, personification, symbolism, or character development. Explain how the technique is used in the passage, both justifying your choice as an example of the technique specified and analyzing the effect the technique's usage has on the reader. Conclude by explaining how the use of this technique impacts the book's truthfulness.

Essay Topic 2

Urrea goes into great detail about interactions between law enforcement and border crossers, describing popular perceptions of both groups and comparing them to his personal findings. Write an essay using The Devil's Highway as a basis to analyze the impact of law enforcement on the safety of border crossing. Conclude by suggesting which policies described within the book seem to have the best outcomes for human safety.

Essay Topic 3

The Devil's Highway is populated with an array of pseudonyms. Many of the people described are introduced as "John Doe" (32) and similar aliases. In some cases, aliases are all that we are ever given. Use evidence from the text, including direct statements of intent within the afterword, to interpret the significance of Urrea's decision to shroud the book's subjects in layers of anonymity and pseudonymity.

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