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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did Cantu's mother work for almost her entire career?
(a) The U.S. State Department.
(b) The Wild Rangers Service.
(c) The U.S. National Park Service.
(d) The U.S. Air Force.

2. Why do Border Patrol agents destroy migrants' belongings they find in the desert?
(a) To make sure they continue to think of migrants as less than human.
(b) To discourage the migrants from continuing their journey.
(c) To clean up the desert, per their orders.
(d) Because they resent the migrants so much.

3. Who did Cantu's mother name him after?
(a) Saint Francis of Assisi.
(b) Her grandfather.
(c) An old family friend.
(d) The city of San Francisco.

4. What is Adam's reaction when Cantu asks him why his village is called a "vampire" village?
(a) He says it is because there were many stories about vampires that originated in the village.
(b) He laughs and says he does not know why it is called that.
(c) He says it is because the town is overrun with vampire bats.
(d) He says it is because everyone stays up all night, and sleeps all day.

5. What animal features in one of Cantu's unsettling dreams on page 14?
(a) A worm.
(b) A whale.
(c) A lion.
(d) A wolf.

6. Why does Cantu tell his mother he wants to work in Border Patrol on page 23?
(a) He wants his wife and children to be proud of him.
(b) Border Patrol will pay for him to earn a master's degree while he works there.
(c) The job pays very well.
(d) He has read about the border in books and now he wants to see what it is like for himself.

7. On page 97, what does Cantu tell Hayward is bothering him about the job?
(a) He feels like he is not getting paid enough.
(b) He feels like all the real work is really out in the field.
(c) He feels bad for all the people crossing that he can not help.
(d) He feels that his language skills are not up to par.

8. According to Cantu, why do so many bodies in the morgue in Juarez remain unclaimed?
(a) Families are too poor to pay the fees to collect the bodies.
(b) Families fear retribution if they claim their loved ones' bodies.
(c) Families do not know their loved ones have died.
(d) Families have already moved out of the country, so they are not there to claim their loved ones' bodies.

9. What animal featured in a story Cantu recalls his mother reading to him as a child on page 81?
(a) A wolf.
(b) A bird.
(c) A lion.
(d) A bear.

10. What does Cantu learn decapitation can be a symbol for?
(a) Racial violence.
(b) Power and dominance.
(c) Economic inequality.
(d) Submission.

11. What Oaxacan food did the two men Morales and Cantu picked up on page 50 offer to Cantu?
(a) Chorizo.
(b) Fried grasshoppers.
(c) Chocolate.
(d) Beer.

12. What do the young boys tell Cantu that the man in their party who died did that might explain his death?
(a) He did not take his insulin during the entire journey.
(b) He did not drink any water during the entire journey.
(c) He had left his heart pills at home.
(d) He took a pill the coyote gave him - likely an amphetamine.

13. What does Cantu's first supervisor tell him he should try to do with the customs agents?
(a) Make friends with them.
(b) Learn how to access their computer systems so they can share useful information.
(c) Learn their job so that he could move into one of those positions as a promotion.
(d) Bribe them.

14. Who stayed with the body in the desert while the other agents brought the surviving migrants back to the Border Patrol station to be processed on page 57?
(a) Morales.
(b) Hart.
(c) Cantu.
(d) Beto.

15. What visions of migrants does Cantu describe sometimes seeing in his nightmares on page 34?
(a) Migrants who have been shot and thrown in mass graves.
(b) Migrant children looking for their parents in the desert.
(c) Migrants who have been bitten by poisonous snakes.
(d) Dead migrants who have not made it out of the desert alive.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Cantu tell the dentist when the dentist asks if his work in Border Patrol is stressful?

2. On page 83, what does the dentist ask Cantu if he was aware of as a problem with his teeth?

3. What is Cantu's colleague Cole's nickname?

4. Why do some people on the reservation sleep in the middle of the road?

5. What does Cantu's mother tell him is her impression of the Border Patrol agency?

(see the answer keys)

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