View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is Dany’s aunt coming from, when he arrives?

2. What does Aline say she learned was useful in her education?

3. What does Dany's pain while walking make him think of?

4. What does Beatrice say the women who come to her for wedding dresses call her?

5. Why does Claude accept Dany’s apology so quickly?

Short Essay Questions

1. Whose point of view is the "Night Talkers" chapter written from, and where is it set?

2. What news is the main character of "Night Talkers" bringing with him?

3. Why does Michel say he understood things he should have been too young to understand?

4. What does Beatrice say appeals to hear about making wedding dresses?

5. What does Beatrice ultimately tell us about the character of Ka’s father?

6. Who is the main character of the "The Funeral Singer" chapter, and where is it set?

7. What are the three deaths Freda’s mother says all people have?

8. How does Danticat characterize the events in the streets of Port-au-Prince?

9. Why does the main character of "Night Talkers" get three pieces of cloth to keep with him the rest of his life?

10. What does Aline find when she investigates the house Beatrice called the Haitian prison guard’s house?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Debate the proposition that the lack of justice in the book creates a longing for justice in the reader that actually brings justice to life more than the book could have done, within itself, by hauling the dew breaker to prison, or getting to the point where he could apologize, or make amends.

Essay Topic 2

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

Essay Topic 3

In Danticat’s novel, speaking and writing - and being silenced - is a thematic element through all of the stories. What power does Danticat attribute to the act of speaking? What are the limits of that power? What causes people to not be able to speak? What are the strengths and the weaknesses she attributes to being silent or silenced?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,049 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample