View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. To follow Paz's previous argument, what is the result when one Mexican confides in another?
(a) Sadness.
(b) Alienation.
(c) Affection.
(d) Dishonor.

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

5. What is the novelty of the pachuco clothing?
(a) Its disregard for current fashion.
(b) Its exaggeration.
(c) Its colors.
(d) Its impracticality.

6. According to Paz, what does it mean when a person is alone?
(a) He is different.
(b) He is superior.
(c) He is inferior.
(d) He can never relate to other people.

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

8. What happens when the Mexican dissimulates?
(a) He nearly ceases to exist.
(b) He merges with the common people.
(c) He preserves his individuality intact.
(d) He becomes estranged from society.

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

10. How are the evil words a sign and seal?
(a) They project the result that they will bring.
(b) They seal the intention of the speaker.
(c) They pull men out of their solitude.
(d) They identify fellow Mexicans among strangers.

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

12. What does the pachuco represent in Paz's writing?
(a) One step along the path that a Mexican can take.
(b) The modern-day religious saint.
(c) One extreme at which the Mexican can arrive.
(d) The typical Mexican living in North American culture.

13. According to Paz, what is the Mexican's relationship with his fellow man?
(a) He respects him only if they are the same social class.
(b) He respects him only if he is revered.
(c) He ignores him.
(d) He changes him to Nobody.

14. As the closure to Chapter Two, the reader sees what shadow spreading out over Mexico?
(a) The shadow of Catholicism.
(b) The shadow of dissimulation.
(c) The shadow of Nobody.
(d) The shadow of truth.

15. What is the most valued trait in both the military and political realms?
(a) Kindness.
(b) Courage.
(c) Stoicism.
(d) Valor.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. From what does a fiesta free the Mexican, in Paz's understanding?

3. Why are woman considered inferior people?

4. What is Paz's opinion about Western respect for life?

5. In Paz's understanding of genders, how do Mexican women become like men?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 626 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample