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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. Why does Adam flag down Cantu as Cantu drives through the reservation on page 67?

2. Why do the tribal police often decline to come to pick up abandoned vehicles when Border Patrol calls them?

3. What often happens, according to Cantu, when the U.S. enacts a border crackdown?

4. What does one of the Border Patrol agents bring to the young immigrant sisters on page 51, hoping it will make them feel better?

5. Who is Cantu's first supervisor on his first rotating shifts with Border Patrol?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Hart's roommate, Dominguez, quit the Border Patrol training?

2. What is Cantu's impression of the people and atmosphere in Cuidad Juarez when the book opens?

3. What contradictory symbols and feelings does the wolf in Cantu's dream at the beginning of the book convey?

4. What fears do Adam and his wife, living in a border town, have about the men who come to the house demanding things?

5. What does Cantu feel when he goes to visit Morales in the hospital following his motorcycle accident?

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

7. Why do Cantu and other Border Patrol agents destroy any of the belongings and provisions they find in the desert?

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

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

10. How does Mortenson treat Cantu when they first meet on the job?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Cantu's experience with looking after his co-worker Beto's dog relate to his experiences as a Border Patrol agent? How does Cantu end up feeling when he discovers Beto's dog is responsible for nearly killing a neighbor's dog when Beto's dog accidentally gets loose? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing how Cantu connects Mexico's history of wars, other conflicts, violence, and suffering (the idea of the so-called "100-year cycles) to the modern-day problems at the country's border with the United States.

Essay Topic 3

In the last few pages of the book, Cantu visits Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grande River, right on the U.S./Mexico border. For a moment, as he stands in the river, he forgets what country he is standing in. What does Cantu's experience in Big Bend represent about his own feelings and hopes for the future as they relate to the border? Write an essay explaining your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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