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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the novelty of the pachuco clothing?

2. According to Paz's argument, what is the source of the North American's irritation with the pachuco?

3. During the fiesta of Grito, why do the people shout for one hour, in Paz's interpretation?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. In the author's parable, who is Nobody? Is it possible for Nobody to break the progression of his existence? Why or why not?

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

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

6. 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?

7. 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?

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

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

10. "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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Use this quote as the foundation for your essay: "We have been expelled from the center of the world, and are condemned to search for it through jungles and deserts or in the underground mazes of the labyrinth.

Essay Topic 2

When does the author mention the Mexican ripping open his breast to reveal his emotions? What similarities and differences do those stories share? What emotions are encapsulated within them?

Essay Topic 3

Spain accepted all forms of the Renaissance and then closed itself off to further influence. How did that affect the Conquest? How does that continue to affect Mexico's philosophical and religious development?

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