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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. Why does Old Man compare the brothers to locusts?

2. After reading Chapter 1, WE WANTED MORE, what point of view is the novel being told from?

3. How does the narrator know that Ma is delighted when Paps returns at the start of Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME?

4. How old is Ma when she gives birth to Manny?

5. Who in the family does not know how to swim when they go to the lake?

Short Essay Questions

1. As the brothers hid in the bathtub, Paps and Ma pretend to not know and do not immediately come to find them. What deep fears does the narrator share about this lack of attention?

2. How does the reader know that Ma was a naive teenager when it came to sex as explained in Chapter 6, US PROPER?

3. What are some examples at the start of Chapter 12, BIG-DICK TRUCK that demonstrate the financial situation of the narrator's family?

4. Even though it is not explicitly mentioned in the novel, how does the author convey that Ma has been abused by Paps in Chapter 4?

5. Having the knowledge of Ma's grueling work schedule and unstable behavior, why might the narrator say after Ma awakes confused, "It was a Sunday, but no one told Ma that" (5)?

6. How does Paps coerce Ma into not being so irate about about the new truck?

7. What metaphorical significance can be determined by the fact that Ma and the narrator cannot swim and hang on to Paps in order to stay afloat?

8. At the end of Chapter 10, NIGHT WATCH, Paps says,"We're never going to escape this...Never" (60). What is he sure the narrator's family will not escape?

9. What kind of support does Lina provide to the narrator's family when she comes to visit?

10. After Ma asks the brothers if they think it is funny when men beat women, the narrator retreats to a window and looks into he sun and says, "I could not blind myself" (16). How does this statement contribute to the nature of the narrator's desires?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In reference to the narrator asking Paps about the caged light in Chapter 6, NIGHT WATCH, on the ride home from Paps' work, the brothers incessantly ask Paps if he has the capability of unlocking and freeing the light. How does this interrogation from all three brothers show their concern about Paps' power? What is a possible relation to this conversation and the brothers' own futures and potential?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 3, HERITAGE, Paps explains that the brothers are not Puerto Rican, white, or rich, but asks them to individually dance as if they belong to one of these cultural/racial/socioeconomic statuses. Why does Paps want the brothers to imitate all three types of heritage groups? What does Paps believe each group embodies by the way the brothers dance?

Essay Topic 3

When the brothers are standing on the loading dock toward the end of the novel, the narrator begins to show aggressive and judgmental opinions of his brothers. The narrator does not state thoughts like this until the very end, so it comes as a surprise how angry he is about his brothers' identities and behaviors. Investigate the narrator's thoughts of his brothers and explain why the narrator cracks at the end and has such a drastic change of attitude.

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