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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. How many names does Jose know how to write?

2. What is the meaning of the Spanish word "maldita" (245)?

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

4. Yo teaches which character the basics of reading?

5. To what quality of Jose's had the village boys been referring to with their nickname for him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What observation of Yo's causes Tammy to burst into tears within the chapter entitled "The Best Friend"?

2. What element does Alvarez depict as the main reason for the split between Yo and Dexter?

3. What does the poem by Sappho symbolize?

4. From what culture does Tammy hail?

5. Describe Yo's status in the Dominican Republic as an adult.

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

7. Discuss the ways in which the characters of Yo and Dexter differ.

8. To what phrase does Yo have a strong reaction during her conversation with Jose?

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

10. In what type of group do Yo and Tammy meet?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the reasons why Julia Alvarez's novel Yo! uses many different narrators to relay the events of the narrative. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what is Alvarez's intended effect on the reader?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the theme of family bonds within Julia Alvarez's novel Yo!. What is Alvarez's message regarding family bonds and how do you know?

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?

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