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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In Paz's thought, what does a study of the great myths reveal?
(a) Man can only be saved by something other than himself.
(b) Man will never truly be saved.
(c) Man will continually become better than he is now.
(d) Man has broken the order of the universe.

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

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

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

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

7. Why do Mexicans tell lies (Chapter Two)?
(a) To protect the other person.
(b) To hide themselves.
(c) To create confusion.
(d) Merely for the enjoyment of it.

8. Why did the sense of Mexicanism "float" in the air of Los Angeles?
(a) It did not mix with the North American efficiency or precision.
(b) No one truly knew that it meant to be Mexican.
(c) It was an ethereal sense of nationality.
(d) People struggled to retain Mexican identity in a foreign land.

9. Chapter Three begins with the great effect that fiestas and public celebrations have. What is this effect?
(a) They bring people together with unusual dynamics.
(b) They emphasize man's individuality.
(c) They stop the flow of time.
(d) They increase man's sense of his mortality.

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

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

12. How does Paz differentiate between views of the body in Mexico and North America?
(a) Mexicans are afraid of their bodies, while North Americans are modest.
(b) Mexicans live with abandon while North Americans are prudent.
(c) Mexicans are ashamed of their bodies, while North Americans live with physical exuberance.
(d) Mexicans are modest, while North Americans are afraid of their bodies.

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

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

15. How are the worlds of terrorism and mass production similar to each other? (Chapter Four).
(a) However subtle, they use persecution.
(b) Their primary catalyst is guilt.
(c) They focus on the individuality of man.
(d) They are worlds of things.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How do Mexicans avoid the dangers of romantic relationships, according to Paz?

3. What is Paz's opinion about the physical features distinguishing Mexicans from North Americans?

4. What model do Mexicans prefer that the woman follow?

5. How does solitude assume a purifying, almost purgative, quality for the Mexican?

(see the answer keys)

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