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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. How many children did Maria and Nestor have?

2. One day when she is not hungry, what does Alicia do instead with her bread?

3. What does Maria Elena worry about her health?

4. After spraying and threatening the prisoners with a gun, what does Vaca give them?

5. Because of the leaks, whose bed is Alicia moved close to?

Short Essay Questions

1. While interrogating Alicia's husband, what do the guards think about the stream poem?

2. Why are Alicia and her husband placed side by side?

3. How do the prisoners communicate with the bread?

4. What does Death take from the old man because She has an overcrowded carriage?

5. Why is the guards' choice of Chinese water torture ridiculous?

6. What was Alicia on the early bus to the suburbs?

7. When a batch of new prisoners arrive, what is Alicia requested to do?

8. How does she feel while being punished by Peine?

9. What does Vaca do just before he brings the prisoners the toothbrushes?

10. Rosa has seen one of the guards' faces---what is he worried about?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are some of the different uses for bread at the Little School?

1) What does bread symbolize?

2) How do the prisoners use bread amongst themselves?

3) Why is bread so important to them?

Essay Topic 2

How is living different than simply surviving? Is Partnoy's work a testament to this difference? Why or why not? What attempts does Partnoy make in the Little School to live and not simply to survive? Choose at least three instances in the work where she makes a conscious effort to exist beyond the status quo, despite her horrible surroundings.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Alicia's nose.

1) As a young girl, how did Alicia feel about her nose?

2) What problems has she historically had with her nose?

3) How does her nose become a blessing at the Little School?

4) Ultimately, how do Alicia and her nose reconcile?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 540 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample