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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 Danticat think Joseph asked for asylum rather than use the valid visa he had to travel to the United States?

2. Where do Joseph and Maxo fly into in the fall of 2004 in the United States?

3. What do the neighborhood gangs and the neighbors do to Joseph's house?

4. What does Uncle Joseph take medication for?

5. What does Joseph wear on his way out of Bel Air in the fall of 2004 so he will not be recognized?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Joseph visits New York in 1983, what life-changing device does he receive from the hospital?

2. What story about Marie Micheline does Danticat tell her Uncle Joseph the night of Marie Micheline's funeral?

3. What factor about Danticat's pregnancy causes her some anxiety?

4. How does Tante Zi get Joseph out of hiding and safely to the airport in October 2004?

5. Whose house does Joseph initially take refuge in when he is in hiding in Haiti in October 2004?

6. What is the first present Danticat's father gives to her upon her arrival in the United States?

7. What does Danticat's brother Bob tell their other brothers Kelly and Karl on their first night in New York all together?

8. What does Danticat's father say when, as a child, she asks him what he would like to do if he could do something other than his actual job?

9. How does Joseph eventually convince Maxo to leave the house under cover of darkness in October 2004?

10. In the section titled "Gypsy," what is Danticat's new home in America like physically?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay exploring the faith that both Joseph and Mira place in herbal and alternative medicine. Where does the tradition that they follow seem to have originated?

Essay Topic 2

Danticat recalls a Haitian saying advising people who are washing others' children to only wash one side of the child, which she interprets as advising adults not to get too attached to children who are not their own. Write an essay analyzing the meaning of this saying and decide whether or not it seems to apply to Danticat's specific experience being raised by both Joseph and Mira.

Essay Topic 3

What do you think the neighbors' behavior towards Joseph after his laryngectomy and tracheotomy procedures indicates about the relationships between the people in that area of Haiti, where Danticat lived until she was about 12? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text.

(see the answer keys)

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