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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 was Forche doing the first time she met her husband?

2. Why do the Salvadoran poets ask Forche not to use their real names if she publishes their poems?

3. Who does Leonel tell Forche are some of the prisoners at Ahuachapan?

4. Who does Leonel tell Forche usually sent actual supplies in aid to El Salvador?

5. Where does Leonel ask Forche to fly to meet him once she has returned to the U.S. on page 231?

Short Essay Questions

1. What recurring nightmare does Forche have as a child that she is reminded of again in El Salvador?

2. Why does Margarita suggest that Forche borrow a dress and good shoes from her?

3. What does Forche see in the prison Ahuachapan that shakes her to her core?

4. In San Salvador, what did a white handprint on a door or wall signify?

5. What does Forche think about Leonel's apparent obsession with Donald Richardson?

6. What happens to Forche and Margarita that shakes Forche to her core and produces great feelings of fear?

7. Why does Leonel reject the idea of Forche pretending she is a nun while in El Salvador?

8. What does it mean to hang things on a tree in certain parts of El Salvador?

9. What does Forche tell Chenco, the young priest who comes to say mass at the poor village she stays in briefly, about why Leonel cares what North Americans think about El Salvador?

10. What does Forche come to understand about the nature of a person's life when that person joins a death squad?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Forche learn about both Leonel and agricultural life in El Salvador when he takes her to visit his coffee farm? (100). What does Forche think about the innovations and tactics Leonel and his workers created to help make their work more efficient? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing how the stage of life and career Forche was in when Leonel first appeared on her doorstep in California contributed to her willingness and ability to travel to El Salvador for extended stays and to begin to bear witness to the turmoil and violence that wracked the country throughout the late 1970s, 80s, and 90s.

Essay Topic 3

Why is Leonel Gomez so fixated on the case of the American, Ronald Richardson, who disappeared some years earlier? Write an essay explaining your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 908 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample