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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 does Adam's wife tell Cantu is different about the men who recently came to the door?

2. What does Cantu's first supervisor tell him he should try to do with the customs agents?

3. Who is Cantu's supervisor at his new job in intelligence at the Border Patrol office in Tucson?

4. What Oaxacan food did the two men Morales and Cantu picked up on page 50 offer to Cantu?

5. Where did the man and his wife that Cantu picks up on the reservation on page 39 come to the U.S. from?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Morales and Cantu see in the night sky that leaves an impression on them during one of their patrols together?

2. What realization did Italian priest Father Eusebio Kino have when he climbed to the top of a volcanic peak south of the international boundary line in 1706?

3. Why does Cantu want to see his classmate Santiago graduate the most out of all his classmates in Border Patrol Training?

4. What does Adam say when Cantu asks him why his town is called the vampire town?

5. What does Cantu's mother tell him about her feelings looking back on her career as a National Parks worker?

6. How did the two young sisters who were brought in to the Border Patrol station alone react to their processing and questioning?

7. What is one main reason why Cantu's mother does not want him to become a Border Patrol agent?

8. Why do some of the agents at the Border Patrol station call Cole "Black Death"?

9. How was the modern-day boundary between the U.S. and Mexico first defined?

10. What do some of the other Border Patrol agents suggest might help combat the smell of dead bodies when going out to recover them in the desert?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cantu does not have a relationship with his father, but he and his mother are very close and he is able, at times, to confide in her about his problems and hopes. Write an essay analyzing the meaning of Cantu's relationship with his mother, and how this relationship underscores one of the book's themes about the importance of close family bonds.

Essay Topic 2

What does Cantu's discussion about the rampant femicide in Mexico reveal about the culture in that country, and how does it help to explain some of the reasons for the increase in immigrants trying to cross the Mexican/U.S. border illegally? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text to support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

When Cantu tells his mother he has decided to become a Border Patrol officer, she is apprehensive and honest with him about her many misgivings surrounding this choice. Write an essay analyzing Cantu's mother's reasons against him joining the Border Patrol forces.

(see the answer keys)

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