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

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

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

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

5. How did Paz consider his philosophical questions?
(a) As the only means to find answers.
(b) As a waste of time.
(c) As meaningful only if they addressed the question of Mexican identity.
(d) As an excuse for not facing reality.

Short Answer Questions

1. As explained in Chapter One, who are the pachucos?

2. To follow Paz's previous argument, what is the result when one Mexican confides in another?

3. To which of the following does Paz reduce the Mexican character? (Chapter Four, page 73).

4. What did Paz find in the actions and faces of North Americans?

5. In Paz's opinion, when is a person most likely to see himself as precious and unique?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the Mexican's ideal of manliness? How does it affect his interactions with other people?

2. How is the modern murderer different from a murderer of the past? How has modernity contributed to that difference?

3. What group of people did the author have in mind as he wrote the book? How and why did those people become important to him?

4. What were Paz's impressions of the United States? How does that contrast with the literature being written? In your mind, what accounts for the discrepancy?

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

6. What is the origin of the pachuco? How does that characterization prepare the reader for the rest of the book?

7. How does Mexico's poverty relate to the fiesta? What French interpretation did it inspire?

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

9. Who is the Virgin of Guadalupe? How is she an important part of Mexican identity?

10. What is the Mexican view of death? When does death become saddest?

(see the answer keys)

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