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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What model do Mexicans prefer that the woman follow?
(a) The model of The Virgin Mary - chaste and kind.
(b) A model of strength, praise, and fortitude.
(c) The model of ancient Mexican goddesses.
(d) A general model of decency, secrecy, and long-suffering.

2. Why does the modern novelist rarely choose the worker as his protagonist?
(a) The worker is too recent and similar to his boss.
(b) The worker is not a universal figure.
(c) The worker cannot adequately capture what the novelist wants to convey.
(d) The worker is not modern enough.

3. In their relation to their world, to whom does Paz compare Mexicans?
(a) Orientals.
(b) Peruvians.
(c) Germans.
(d) Nigerians.

4. As Paz begins Chapter Two, he says that the Mexican is always afraid to glance at his neighbor. What reason does he give for that?
(a) The glance could reveal his isolation.
(b) His neighbor reveals the disillusioned character of Mexico.
(c) The glance could spark rage.
(d) His neighbor is a pathetic version of himself.

5. As explained in Chapter One, who are the pachucos?
(a) Rebellious youths who are not assimilated into North American culture.
(b) Young men who leave Mexico for the United States hoping for a better life.
(c) Old men who keep the memory of Mexico alive in their grandchildren who were born in the United States.
(d) Old men who no longer have a connection to their native land.

6. As Paz uderstands it, what is the Mexican's relation to death?
(a) Intimate and heartbreaking.
(b) Emotionally remote.
(c) Sacrificial.
(d) Intimate but empty.

7. In Latin America, what was the importance of Jose Gorostiza's poem, Muerte sin Fin?
(a) It was the best evidence of a truly modern awareness.
(b) It presented the Spanish conquest through the eyes of modernity.
(c) It presented the best example of the Mexican fascination with horror.
(d) It was the last example of the colonial mindset.

8. What is the difference between the Mexican killer and the modern one?
(a) Only the Mexican killer expresses true hatred.
(b) The Mexican kills a man, not an object.
(c) The Mexican kills as an expression of love.
(d) The Mexican obliterates an object, not a man.

9. Through dissimulation, what does a Mexican attempt to do?
(a) Share his individuality with others to make it real.
(b) Withdraw from society to save his individuality.
(c) Become himself in contradistinction to others.
(d) Become invisible and save his individuality.

10. Why is the fiesta, at its core, a revolution?
(a) It allows man to be something different.
(b) It has no regard for religious mores.
(c) It dissolves society.
(d) Man is finally free.

11. In his obsession with hygiene, work, and health, what does the North American miss?
(a) True joy.
(b) Truth.
(c) True anger.
(d) All-consuming love.

12. When does the pachuco become his true self?
(a) When he is alone.
(b) When his life explodes.
(c) When he is surrounded by fellow Mexicans.
(d) When he is in Mexico.

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

14. When Aztec victims were sacrificed, why did their deaths lack personal meaning?
(a) They were at the bottom of the social scale.
(b) Any sacrifice to the gods was seen impersonally.
(c) No one was left to mourn for them.
(d) Their lives did not belong to them.

15. What is Paz's opinion about the physical features distinguishing Mexicans from North Americans?
(a) People do not understand their significance.
(b) They are more important than commonly believed.
(c) They are not as important as commonly believed.
(d) People are too distracted by them.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Paz, how does death end when a civilization denies it?

2. When does intimacy sprout among Mexicans?

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

4. Paz says that during critical moments in a nation's development, the people ask themselves a critical question. What is that question?

5. What role does the Mexican man play in society?

(see the answer keys)

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