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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. Where does Cantu's mother live?

2. What are Border Patrol agents instructed to do with water, food, and other belongings they find that migrants have left in the desert?

3. Where does Cantu's supervisor say he hopes to be transferred to eventually?

4. Why does Cantu tell his mother he wants to work in Border Patrol on page 23?

5. How do other agents refer to the village Adam and his wife live in?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What do Cantu and his mother always do as a tradition on Christmas Eve together?

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

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

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

7. Why is Cantu so nervous when he comes home from work late one night to see a man lurking in the dark on his street?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

At different points in the book, Cantu listens to and trades insults and stories in graphic language with his colleagues at Border Patrol, who are all men. Write an essay analyzing what the sometimes crude and sexual language they use reveals about the work culture in the Border Patrol sector.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay discussing Cantu's reasons for finally deciding to leave his work as a Border Patrol agent. At the end of the book, how do you think Cantu ultimately feels about his years working for the Border Patrol?

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