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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. Paz discusses the result of persecution on the pachuco. What is that result?
(a) It makes him distrustful.
(b) It makes him stronger.
(c) It breaks his solitude.
(d) It strengthens his anger.

4. When is the fiesta of Grito celebrated?
(a) April 16 at 11:00 AM.
(b) August 3 at 9:00 AM.
(c) September 15 at 11:00 PM.
(d) October 31 at 3:00 PM.

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

6. What is the Mexican concept of work?
(a) An important action performed extremely well.
(b) An impersonal action executed carefully.
(c) A personal action handled slowly and carefully.
(d) A mindless action performed quickly.

7. Above all other definitions, who is the Chingada?
(a) The representation of virginity.
(b) The representation of violated womanhood.
(c) A mythical mother.
(d) A living mother.

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 as an expression of love.
(c) The Mexican obliterates an object, not a man.
(d) The Mexican kills a man, not an object.

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

10. Other than solitude, what does the Mexican often feel in relation to other peoples?
(a) Inferiority.
(b) Weakness.
(c) Intellectualism.
(d) Complete isolation.

11. What type of book did Xavier Villaurrutia write?
(a) Religious exhortations about life.
(b) Death-related poetry.
(c) Life-related poetry.
(d) A scientific explanation of death.

12. How does a man become "like the angels" (Chapter Three, page 61)?
(a) By opening fully to death, as well as to life.
(b) By valuing life to its final moment.
(c) By entrusting everything to God.
(d) By running from death to an embracement of life.

13. Paz states that a Mexican utters the words that are considered most evil when which of the following occurs?
(a) When he wants to invoke the evil contained in the words.
(b) When he is extremely angry.
(c) When he wants to get his point across.
(d) When he is not in control of himself.

14. In Paz's example of the village near Mitla, how is their yearly income spent?
(a) On education.
(b) On fiestas.
(c) On weddings and christenings.
(d) On funerals.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does a Mexican blend into his surroundings and become solely Appearance?

2. How did Paz consider his philosophical questions?

3. In Paz's estimation, what vital word has the Mexican forgotten?

4. When Paz first arrived in the United States, what surprised him most about the people?

5. Chapter Three begins with the great effect that fiestas and public celebrations have. What is this effect?

(see the answer keys)

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