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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. According to Trotsky, what should happen if the Revolution does not break out in advanced nations following World War II?

2. According to the tribe of the Chamulas, what is a chulel?

3. When Paz sees that Mexicans return to their tradition, what do they remember?

4. What did Manuel Gomez-Morin accomplish for the Revolution?

5. In Paz's argument, how have tradition and religion always been presented to the Mexicans?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. What role did Catholicism play in the lives of the conquering Spaniards? Was that role contradictory?

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

5. What is Paz's definition of "community"? How is that definition knowingly idealistic?

6. 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.

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

What is Mexico's relation to the rest of the world? How is it different from the past? What are Paz's hopes and fears for the future? Do you agree or disagree with his ideas?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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This section contains 1,872 words (approx. 7 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample