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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. In Paz's philosophy, why must Mexicans face reality alone?

2. What economic goal did the Revolution have?

3. What is the value of Sor Juana's poem, "First Dream"?

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

5. According to Paz, what is the "contemporary crisis"? (Chapter Seven, page 172).

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Paz define "Mexicanism"? How does it mesh with the individual whom he had described earlier?

2. 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.

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

4. Despite Mexico's advancements, where does she still stand on the world spectrum? How can she change her placement?

5. Pulling from the ideas of Jose Gaos, Paz, speaks of the physical duality in Mexico. What does that mean? What significance does that idea have?

6. What does Paz say about the national differences among Central and South American nations? How does that tie into their relationship with Spain?

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

8. Why was the Aztec nation able to unify so many diverse tribes? How were they quite skilled with that type of action?

9. What is the role of the Mexican intelligentsia within society? How does it differ from the function of the intelligentsia within the United States and Europe; and which one is a better role?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Catholicism offered a refuge to the descendants of those who had seen the extermination of their ruling classes, the destruction of their temples and manuscripts, and the suppression of the superior forms of their culture; but for the same reason that it was decadent in Europe, it denied them any chance of expressing their singularity" (Chapter Five, pg 105). What does that mean? How does it fit in with the idea of conquered peoples being assigned a passive role?

Essay Topic 2

Does Paz's writing style mirror the subject? When is he vociferous? When does it feel that he is holding something back?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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