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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. Why is a study of colonialism important in understanding Mexican history?
(a) The nation was founded through a peaceful Spanish immersion into Indian culture.
(b) The nation's beginnings were heavily influenced by North Americans.
(c) The nation began through the colonization of several surrounding nations.
(d) The nation was founded by a Spanish conquest of Indians.

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

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

4. Why have Mexican culture and politics vacillated from one extreme to another? (Chapter Seven, page 157).
(a) Because Mexicans cannot invent their history from the beginning.
(b) Because Mexicans have difficulty synthesizing experiences.
(c) Because Mexicans deny their Spanish and Indian heritage.
(d) Because there has never been a strong Mexican leader.

5. What metaphor does Paz use to describe Mexico taking control from Spain?
(a) A lion cub overtaking its elderly parent.
(b) A phoenix rising from the ashes.
(c) A corpse dismembered and a nation born.
(d) A young man finally realizing his strength.

Short Answer Questions

1. During the Revolution, whom did the intelligentsia make the focal point of its activities?

2. What does Paz mean by the word, "community"?

3. When did the Plan of Ayala go into effect?

4. What was the Mexican intellectual's goal?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What role did Jose Vasconcelos play in modern education? From Paz's descriptions, what is his opinion of Vasconcelos?

2. When did Independence begin in Mexico? How was it similar to or different from the Conquest?

3. Why did the new Constitution mandate that education be secular? How might that have made the Mexicans feel?

4. What happened when Spanish America separated itself from Spain? Given what Paz has stated throughout the book about that moment in history, draw your own conclusions about why that happened.

5. How did Catholicism reduce the Indian converts into passive believers? How was that a significant blow?

6. What does Paz think of the Soviet Union? How does it compare to Mexico?

7. Why could Mexico not have progressed as far as she has today if she were working within capitalism?

8. Throughout his career, what did Jorge Cuesta argue? What are the benefits and downfalls of his argument?

9. How does Paz explain the suicides of the Aztec people? Is it a reasonable explanation?

10. What role did religion play in ancient South American cultures? Did Catholicism change that role?

(see the answer keys)

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