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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 name of the jackpot in the Spanish lottery?

2. Who is driving the car discussed in Chapter 26?

3. What does Carlos say to the priest at the end of his confession?

4. What is the last place mentioned in Chapter 23?

5. What does Carlos see in Chapter 1 that reminds him of the maid's breasts?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the game the boys play with the "pesticide Jeep"?

2. How did Carlos's grandfather Amado die, and how old was he?

3. In Chapter 2, who is the man who hides behind Marie Antoinette, and what happens to him?

4. How does Carlos feel about the poster he made in fourth grade?

5. What is the significance of the mamey pit to Carlos?

6. Who is Mel Blanc, and how does Carlos feel about him?

7. Explain the concept of Gelassenheit.

8. Describe Havana on New Year's Eve, as portrayed in Chapter 1. What has happened to affect the city this way?

9. Why does Louis XVI wish he could have afforded to be Pilate in the church murals?

10. Explain Carlos's third proof for the existence of God, as related in Chapter 11.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the breadfruit war function as a catharsis in the novel? What are the events that build tension before and after the war? How would the scene have seemed different if it had been placed somewhere separate from those tensions?

Essay Topic 2

How does Fernando fit the archetype of the hero? What other characters in the book also seem like heroes, and how do they compare and contrast with Fernando?

Essay Topic 3

Choose a couple of minor characters, such as Inocencia or Pepito, and describe their reactions to Communism. How do they compare to the reactions of Carlos?

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