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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Day of the Dead.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Paz's opinion about Western respect for life?
(a) It is truthful and realistic.
(b) It illustrates man's limitations.
(c) It is either hypocritical or incomplete.
(d) It is not convincing.

2. According to Paz, what is death in modern thought?
(a) The end of all unworthy men.
(b) The predictable end to a natural progression.
(c) The putting to rest of all sorrow.
(d) The avoidable end to a wasted life.

3. From what does a fiesta free the Mexican, in Paz's understanding?
(a) The sense of unfulfilled desires.
(b) The drudgery of common living.
(c) The explosive desires he carries in his heart.
(d) The horror of human thought.

4. What do a pachuco's actions and lifestyle demonstrate?
(a) His anger at a culture that will not assimilate him.
(b) His desire to return to Mexico.
(c) His dissatisfaction with North American culture.
(d) His will to remain different.

5. How does the philosophy of progress treat death?
(a) It pretends to make death disappear.
(b) It disregards death entirely.
(c) It treats death as one more step in life.
(d) It minimizes death.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Paz consider his philosophical questions?

2. When Aztec victims were sacrificed, why did their deaths lack personal meaning?

3. According to Paz's argument, what is the source of the North American's irritation with the pachuco?

4. What is the most valued trait in both the military and political realms?

5. According to Paz, why does the liar tell lies to himself?

(see the answer key)

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