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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 is the main thing Olivia says she has learned from the Behala dumpsite in her time there?

2. When Gabriel Olondriz tells Olivia he is sorry that he has told the story of the government's corruption so often that it has lost something, what does he tell her it has lost?

3. What does Rat say is something Father Juilliard did once that no one had done for Rat before and that no one had done since?

4. What does Gardo see in Marco's eyes when he first sees him during their meeting?

5. What color does Rat use to describe the influx of police that lead the boys to flee from Behala at the start of Part Four?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is seed-corn money and why does Senator Zapanta's theft of that money ultimately cost the poor twice as much as that seed-corn sum?

2. In what ways does Raphael seem to have lingering negative effects from his experiences within the police station?

3. When Raphael and Gardo use Gabriel Olondriz's Bible in order to decipher the code included within the letter the boys had found within the train station locker, why is Rat unable to help them decipher the message and how does this inability add to the difference between him and the other two boys?

4. What are the main duties required within Olivia's position as house mother for the mission school?

5. When the police return to the dumpsite in search of the boys, what plan does Rat suggest?

6. What method do Raphael, Gardo, and Rat use in order to evade the police after they leap from rooftop to rooftop in an attempt to escape?

7. What features of the prison result in Olivia's pronouncement of the place as a "hell" (100)?

8. When Gardo meets with the prison guard named Marco in order to pay a bribe for Gabriel Olondriz's Bible, how does Marco betray Gardo and how does Gardo then escape?

9. In what way does Gabriel Olondriz say that he had been betrayed by his legal defense team?

10. How does Gabriel Olondriz say he has ended up in Colva Prison?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

The novel Trash does not shy away from including graphic and disturbing details when describing the lives of the poverty-stricken children making their living within the dump or when portraying the dire conditions in which the society's prisoners are forced to live. Andy Mulligan has said that he wants to make sure young people all over the world are educated about the poverty and hardships that exist for children in many different societies. Some may say that the harsh realities depicted in Trash's narrative are too disturbing for that young audience, however. Write a persuasive essay in which you argue for or against the use of Trash in schools, and be sure to include several logical reasons with accompanying concrete details to support your claim.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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