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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. When Miss Garcia first asks Deja which communities Deja belongs to, Deja gives only two answers initially. What are those two answers?

2. What word does Angel suggest as an alternative to units within the class discussion?

3. Deja remarks that her father is very scary when he gets mad. What is NOT an impetus Deja mentions as being capable of sparking her father's anger?

4. What part of her name does Deja leave out when introducing herself to the class?

5. Who is the first student to befriend Deja at her new school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of language does the author use in order to portray Deja, the novel's protagonist?

2. Explain the significance of Deja's initial reaction to the cultural map in the school hallway.

3. Discuss the point of view utilized to tell the story of Towers Falling.

4. What happens when Deja innocently remarks that her school project is "not just about home, it's about the missing towers" (45)?

5. How does Deja introduce herself to her new classmates and what does her choice reveal about her character?

6. What effect does Miss Garcia's guidance have on Deja?

7. Describe the author's depiction of Deja's youth through the use of language.

8. What does Sabeen's comment "Home is divine. Blessed by Allah" (50) demonstrate about her character?

9. What is the purpose of the author's inclusion of the Mr. Schmidt character?

10. How does Deja discover that Ben is not close to his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sensory details are used frequently by the author in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author set a particular mood for each of the three scenes.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the interplay between the resolution of Jewell Parker Rhodes's novel Towers Falling and one of the novel's main messages. How does the author make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help the author get across one main message of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Jewell Parker Rhodes's novel Towers Falling. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.

(see the answer keys)

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