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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did Paz see the 20th Century?
(a) A time when the common man asserted himself.
(b) A time when feudalism was finally thrown off.
(c) A time when dictators took more power than ever before.
(d) A time when all historical eras mingled and merged.

2. What was sacrificed when Porfirio Diaz took power and subdued anarchy?
(a) Equality.
(b) Nothing.
(c) Liberty.
(d) Possibility.

3. What was an important element of all ancient cultures?
(a) Religion.
(b) Familial relationships.
(c) Historical records.
(d) Military superiority.

4. Why was unemployment high in Mexico at the time that Paz was writing?
(a) The population grew more quickly than industry.
(b) The economy was going through a recession.
(c) The two biggest factories were experiencing lay-offs.
(d) The labor unions made it difficult for workers to get jobs.

5. What did positivism do with the ideals of the Reformation?
(a) Pushed them into the background.
(b) Made them reality.
(c) Blurred them into vague, utopian dreams.
(d) Made them irrelevant to Mexican life and culture.

6. Who was Emiliano Zapata?
(a) The leader of the Revolution of the South.
(b) The military leader in Diaz's regime.
(c) The replacement in Diaz's regime.
(d) The first leader of the Revolution.

7. How does the Indian perceive salvation? (Chapter Five).
(a) As something solely individual.
(b) As something open to anyone who would believe.
(c) As part of society and the cosmos, as well as individual.
(d) As something attainable only by a few people.

8. What was the motto of positivism?
(a) "The Spirit Shall Speak through My Race".
(b) "Love, Order, and Progress".
(c) "Thus Shall We Live".
(d) "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity".

9. How did the Reform want to justify itself?
(a) Through its popularity.
(b) Through its changes.
(c) Through the future.
(d) Through its past.

10. According to Paz, who is most fascinated by death?
(a) The old.
(b) The dying.
(c) The infant.
(d) The youth.

11. What was the purpose of the publishing house Fondo de Cultura Economica?
(a) To act as a façade for Revolutionary pamphlets.
(b) To print texts about Mexican life and culture.
(c) To print books as cheaply as possible.
(d) To print texts about economics for South Americans.

12. Why did the Spaniards not exterminate the Indians after they were conquered?
(a) They needed labor.
(b) They respected the Indians.
(c) Their Catholicism prevented mass slaughter.
(d) They wanted to learn from the Indians.

13. According to Paz, what philosophical fact defines much of Mexico's history?
(a) They overturned several of Spain's philosophical treatises.
(b) The people adopted some ideas and invented others.
(c) They had only two great thinkers.
(d) The people adopted ideas, but did not invent their own.

14. When did the Plan of Ayala go into effect?
(a) March, 1951.
(b) November, 1911.
(c) July, 1937.
(d) January, 1909.

15. Where have the great revolutions of the 20th Century occurred?
(a) In large, wealthy countries.
(b) Among indigenous tribes.
(c) In backward countries.
(d) In places with little modern culture.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did the Aztecs' final struggle manifest itself?

2. Why have Mexican culture and politics vacillated from one extreme to another? (Chapter Seven, page 157).

3. How did liberalism and democracy function in South American countries?

4. Mexico lacks basic industries except for one - what is it?

5. Why did the Church support Spanish power?

(see the answer keys)

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