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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. According to Paz, what is death in modern thought?
(a) The predictable end to a natural progression.
(b) The avoidable end to a wasted life.
(c) The putting to rest of all sorrow.
(d) The end of all unworthy men.

2. Why does the worker lack mystery?
(a) He is bound to time and space.
(b) He loses his communion with the Divine.
(c) He is confined to a small space in the world.
(d) He is identical to his fellow man.

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

4. 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 are ashamed of their bodies, while North Americans live with physical exuberance.
(c) Mexicans are modest, while North Americans are afraid of their bodies.
(d) Mexicans live with abandon while North Americans are prudent.

5. 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 reveal his isolation.
(b) The glance could spark rage.
(c) His neighbor reveals the disillusioned character of Mexico.
(d) His neighbor is a pathetic version of himself.

Short Answer Questions

1. Above all other definitions, who is the Chingada?

2. What is the Spanish view of women in contrast to the Mexican?

3. Paz states that a Mexican utters the words that are considered most evil when which of the following occurs?

4. In Paz's view, why does the Spaniard still use and enjoy blasphemy?

5. What is the advantage of the North American view of women in relation to the Spanish view?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What is the modern view of death? How is it dramatically different from the Aztec view?

5. What is Paz's understanding of woman? How does it fit the Mexican mindset?

6. 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?

7. Who is the Chingada? What relation does she hold to every Mexican, whether male or female?

8. What mutual problem do both the Mexican and the North American face? What is the solution to that problem?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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