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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 news do the muleteers bring to the revolutionaries?

2. What does Camila call Demetrio Macias?

3. What keeps Luis Cervantes from sleeping on his first night with Demetrio Macias' band?

4. What do the rebels take from the soldiers?

5. What is a curro?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Luis Cervantes insist that the band should do when he learns that Huerta is preparing a final defense in Zacatecas?

2. What kindness from a village girl impresses Demetrio Macias?

3. How does Luis Cervantes escape being shot to death by Demetrio Macias' men?

4. Describe the leader of the Federal soldiers.

5. Why does Luis Cervantes think that Demetrio Macias has run into the hills?

6. How does Luis Cervantes try to persuade Camila to go with Demetrio Macias?

7. The author uses the words "gold" or "golden" several times in his description of the Sierra. What symbolism might there be in calling the calf they are preparing to eat "golden?"

8. How did General Natera react to Demetrio Macias' arrival in Zacatecas?

9. How does Camila expect Luis Cervantes to react when she tells him that Demetrio Macias has been flirting with her?

10. Why does Demetrio Macias hate Don Monico?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What ironies do you see in this story? For instance, is it ironic that those who are fighting for the rights of the poor end up stealing from the poor and often killing them? Irony occurs whenever the result is unexpected. In your essay, discuss the use of irony in this story.

Essay Topic 2

Margarito's self-hatred explodes when he shoots his own image in the mirror, and then later when he actually commits suicide. Are there other instances of foreshadowing in this story, when the conclusion of events is presaged by a symbolic or similar event? In your essay, show examples of foreshadowing in the plot of this story.

Essay Topic 3

Palomo, the dove, is a significant symbol in this story, as is the rock that Demetrio Macias throws and then watches as it falls inexorably to the bottom. In your essay, discuss some of the symbols and what they represent.

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