View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many van-loads of police arrive at Raphael's house when they come to arrest him?

2. How much money does Raphael say he makes on a good day?

3. Why is there no stupp in the trash from the McKinley neighborhood?

4. What name does the interrogator call Raphael when he asks him who taught him to read?

5. How old are Raphael and Gardo within the narrative?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which of the three boys is chosen to open the train station locker with the key from inside the found leather bag and why?

2. What reasons does Gardo give for wanting to be patient and putting off their visit to the train station to check out what is inside the locker?

3. What are three cases that Pascal Aguila took on and won during his career?

4. What is different about the day the police come to orchestrate the search for the leather bag, versus a normal day within the dumpsite?

5. What is the main point of Grace's piece of narration from the story?

6. Besides the cash, what item inside the leather bag convinces Rat that Jose Angelico, the purported owner of the bag, is a wealthy man?

7. Describe the scene in which Raphael is taken from his home and is forced into the police car.

8. What reason does Grace give for Pia Dante not having lived with her father, Jose Angelico, while he was still alive?

9. Why do the boys jump off of the train before it pulls into the station?

10. When Raphael is finally released from the police station, why does he laugh as he walks home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oftentimes in Western culture, volunteerism is looked at in terms of only helping those in need, but the novel seems to put forth the proposition that service to others can also be a means to the provider's own personal happiness. Find examples within the novel Trash that would prove this conclusion regarding the author's message about service to others and discuss the message's overall effect on the reader.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the author's message regarding perseverance in the novel Trash. State a clear and specific claim regarding this topic and support your claim using concrete details from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

The theme of power is one that comes up often within the novel's narrative, particularly in relation to dumpsite boys' feelings of powerlessness and their realizations about the enormous power that the government wields recklessly. Choose three instances when power is wielded by a particular character or organization within the novel. Discuss how these instances help to shape the author's message regarding power.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,155 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample