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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. As Paz begins Chapter Two, he says that the Mexican is always afraid to glance at his neighbor. What reason does he give for that?
(a) The glance could spark rage.
(b) The glance could reveal his isolation.
(c) His neighbor reveals the disillusioned character of Mexico.
(d) His neighbor is a pathetic version of himself.

2. What role does the Mexican man play in society?
(a) He defends everything that he has.
(b) He protects everything entrusted to him.
(c) He seeks to expand his control in the world.
(d) He wants to raise Mexico to a place of prominence in the world.

3. How does the philosophy of progress treat death?
(a) It pretends to make death disappear.
(b) It treats death as one more step in life.
(c) It minimizes death.
(d) It disregards death entirely.

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

5. When does the pachuco become his true self?
(a) When he is alone.
(b) When he is surrounded by fellow Mexicans.
(c) When his life explodes.
(d) When he is in Mexico.

Short Answer Questions

1. Paz says that during critical moments in a nation's development, the people ask themselves a critical question. What is that question?

2. How does Paz differentiate between views of the body in Mexico and North America?

3. How are the worlds of terrorism and mass production similar to each other? (Chapter Four).

4. When is the fiesta of Grito celebrated?

5. Why did the sense of Mexicanism "float" in the air of Los Angeles?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter Three, the following idea is presented: "There is nothing so joyous as a Mexican fiesta, but there is also nothing so sorrowful. Fiesta night is also a night of mourning" (Chapter 3, page 53). What does that mean?

2. How important are fiestas in Mexican culture? What relationship exists between the fiesta and the individual?

3. How does Paz explain the Mexican woman's role in society? How does that strip her of her personality?

4. What is the character of the Mexican's solitude? How does it differ from the solitude of the North American?

5. "The pachuco has lost his whole inheritance: Language, religion, customs, and beliefs. He is left with only a body and a soul with which to confront the elements" (Chapter One, pg 15). Is that a true statement?

6. Why does the Mexican love Form? Other than in personal relationships, how does that idea express itself?

7. What is the greatest horror that a worker suffers? Do you think that is true?

8. How does North American culture view the pachuco? Does the pachuco accept or reject that culture's perception of him?

9. According to Alarcon, why does the liar lie to himself? Given what you know of the Mexican mindset, does that make sense?

10. How did the Aztecs view sin? How does that idea explain the Conquest? What enormous change did Catholicism introduce?

(see the answer keys)

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