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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Catholicism drastically change the Aztec view of life?
(a) It placed man's salvation outside himself.
(b) It saw life linearly rather than cyclically.
(c) It placed a merciful God in charge.
(d) It emphasized man's humanity and personhood.

2. In the book's argument, what happens when a Mexican woman is passive?
(a) She functions as a channel of the ancient elements: Earth, motherhood, and virginity.
(b) She embodies the ancient elements of earth, motherhood, and virginity.
(c) She can no longer relate to the man.
(d) She comes to believe in the societal values given her.

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

4. What connotation does the verb, chingar, carry?
(a) Mythical power.
(b) Disaster.
(c) Violation.
(d) Failure.

5. What contributes to the power of the word, chingar, and all of its derivations?
(a) The fact that its derivations are many and complicated.
(b) The fact that people use the word in religious ceremonies.
(c) The fact that it is prohibited in public places.
(d) The fact that the word is related to words related to death.

6. What masculine trait enters into the idea of feminine modesty?
(a) Protection.
(b) Strength.
(c) Love.
(d) Vanity.

7. How do Mexicans perceive an opening-up of one's self?
(a) As a moment of truth.
(b) As a sign of strength.
(c) As a betrayal or weakness.
(d) As infidelity to the human spirit.

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

9. According to Paz, how does death end when a civilization denies it?
(a) By evading death.
(b) By living fully.
(c) It does not end.
(d) Through the denial of life.

10. Why is death a part of the fiesta (Chapter Three)?
(a) Because people often get drunk and violent.
(b) Because exuberant death is honorable.
(c) Because Mexico celebrates all aspects of life, even the end.
(d) Because the Mexican seeks to escape from himself.

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

12. What did Paz find in the actions and faces of North Americans?
(a) A fear about the survival of their society.
(b) A faith in man's intrinsic goodness and its effects on their culture.
(c) A faith in their society and confidence in its survival.
(d) An unrealistic optimism about the future.

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

14. How does solitude assume a purifying, almost purgative, quality for the Mexican?
(a) It serves to mitigate his guilt (a Catholicism concept).
(b) It concentrates the Mexican's attention on the Divine rather than on the human.
(c) It is proof of future communion with others.
(d) It wipes away his anger toward others.

15. Why are a woman's instincts those of a species rather than her own?
(a) She must have instincts of the species in order to perpetuate the race.
(b) Her individual instincts are obliterated because of her proximity to the Divine.
(c) She is the incarnation of the life force, which itself is impersonal.
(d) As an inferior person, she does not have individual instincts.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What familial relationship does Paz equate with solitude?

3. What is the advantage of the North American view of women in relation to the Spanish view?

4. In Paz's estimation, woman is a living representation of which of the following?

5. How is the myth of the "long-suffering Mexican woman" created?

(see the answer keys)

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