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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 do the townspeople do in “A City Like a Guillotine Shivers on Its Way to the Neck” in response to the killing of the soldier?

2. What do girls and boys do to the soldier?

3. What Alfonso cannot believe about his door-slamming wife?

4. The speaker says that Alfonso played the accordion out of tune where the only musical instrument of his country is what?

5. How is Alfonso put to death?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are two things the speaker says in “Such Is the Story Made of Stubbornness and a Little Air”?

2. How does Momma Galya react to seeing the names posted in “Soldiers Don’t Like Looking Foolish”?

3. What do the townspeople try not to notice about Momma Galya?

4. In “Galya’s Toast,” what does Galya toast?

5. What do the beautiful women of Vasenka do?

6. What payment does Alfonso receive for killing the soldier?

7. How is the soldier treated prior to being killed?

8. What takes place right before and after the killing of the soldier?

9. In “A Bundle of Laundry,” what has happened to Anushka?

10. How does Alfonso try to make life fun for his daughter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Kaminsky mentions the blue canary in "4 a.m. Bombardment." Blue Canary is a term used to describe first responders to a scene. They often do not have respirators or fire protection gear. They are much like the canaries once sent into coal mines to make sure they were safe and had adequate oxygen. Applying this understanding to Kaminsky's poem, what might he be saying about the blue canary? What is the blue canary doing? What is the relationship of the blue canary to others?

Essay Topic 2

At Alfonso's death, he is compared to a philosopher. Why? Would you agree that he is philosophic? Why or why not? Would he agree with this comparison? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Momma Galya is called the luckiest woman in the world. Why is she called this? Do you agree? Why or why not? How does her luck change? Why does it change? What does this say about humanity?

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This section contains 760 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample