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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 first name of Professor Garfield, Yo's mentor?

2. Whose ashes does Garfield keep in a box inside his garden?

3. From what location does Matthews call Garfield to tell him bad news?

4. In what New York City borough does the Garcia family live?

5. What type of school does Sarita attend?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the nature of the culture shock Sarita experiences upon arriving in New York.

2. What is the significance of the phrase "You are the one who knows" (125) throughout the text?

3. Who includes a special note for Sarita on the back of a photograph she sends to the Dominican Republic?

4. In what way does the theme of appearance versus reality appear within the end of the chapter entitled "The Maid's Daughter"?

5. Why is the narrator of the Prologue upset when she hears her sister Yo on the radio?

6. How does the theme of control arise within the Prologue?

7. How does the theme of pride emerge within the first meeting between Yo and Sarita in decades?

8. With which of her four daughters does Mami not get along?

9. What event occurs in the Garcia household that causes Mami to start taking Valium and sleeping pills?

10. For what reason does the Prologue's narrator say that she no longer enjoys reading novels?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the topic of class difference treated within Julia Alvarez's novel Yo! and how does its treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the interplay between the resolution of Julia Alvarez's novel Yo! and one of the novel's main messages. How does the author make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help the author get across one main message of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze Julia Alvarez's novel Yo! from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,085 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample