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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many children does Jose have with his wife before the daughter in the story is born?
(a) 8.
(b) 5.
(c) 3.
(d) 7.

2. In what manner does Jose describe Yo's body?
(a) Luscious.
(b) Noodle-thin.
(c) Pleasantly plump.
(d) Angular.

3. What number husband is Doug for Yo?
(a) 4.
(b) 3.
(c) 1.
(d) 2.

4. In what city is the chapter entitled "The Best Friend" set?
(a) San Juan.
(b) New York City.
(c) Boston.
(d) Miami.

5. Jose receives a notice from what organization stating that he must soon evacuate the land upon which his house sits?
(a) The office of family services.
(b) The housing authority.
(c) The transportation authority.
(d) The government.

Short Answer Questions

1. What item of clothing does Lou wish he had removed while he is sitting in the first meeting of Yo's class?

2. About what sport is the story that Lou hands in to Yo?

3. How many different wedding guests help to narrate the chapter of the same name?

4. What is the name of Yo's hippie boyfriend?

5. How does Yo meet her future husband Doug?

Short Essay Questions

1. What observation does Doug's pastor make about Yo at her wedding and why is it significant?

2. Discuss a time in the text when Tammy displays the effects of past physical abuse.

3. What is the function of Dexter's character within the novel?

4. Discuss Dexter's metaphor of the caged "bright bird" (204).

5. With what elements of Yo's personality is Jose uncomfortable?

6. In what way does Alvarez set up the United States and the Dominican Republic as foil settings?

7. What does the poem by Sappho symbolize?

8. For how many weeks has Clair been away at the time Yo comes to live as a tenant in Marie and Clair's home?

9. How does Alvarez depict the effects of the cycle of abuse within the novel?

10. How does Alvarez portray the theme of superstition and religious belief within the chapter entitled "The Night Watchman"?

(see the answer keys)

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