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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The title of Chapter 8 is Las Ciruelas, the plums. What is the significance of the plums in this chapter?
(a) The plums are part of what Esperanza cooks for dinner.
(b) The plums are what she gives to a hungry child.
(c) The plums cause the babies' sickness.
(d) The plums are what Esperanza shines and puts on the table.

2. After the first crop of harvest time is picked, what is the next crop ready to harvest?
(a) Corn.
(b) Potatoes.
(c) Cotton.
(d) Strawberries.

3. During the harvest time, who becomes ill?
(a) Mama.
(b) Josefina.
(c) Hortensia.
(d) Juan.

4. When Esperanza asks Isabel for news that she has heard at school, what is the new construction that Isabel tells them about?
(a) A school for children of families from Oklahoma.
(b) A library for the children of families from Oklahoma.
(c) A park for all the children.
(d) A school for all the migrant families.

5. As Chapter 12 begins, what celebration is coming up in at Isabel's school?
(a) Cake Contest Day.
(b) May Day.
(c) Harvest Ball Day.
(d) Pie Contest Day.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Chapter 8 begins, Esperanza begins her first day of work alone. What is one of her main duties at this time?

2. When asparagus season begins and the truck arrives to take Esperanza, Hortensia, and Josefina to the field, what does a man have to protect them?

3. When Esperanza and her mother are together in Chapter 7, what does Mama confess she misses?

4. While the camp is having a party, who comes to encourage the workers to strike?

5. After Isabel's news about the new building project, what news does Miguel come home with?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 9, when Mama is in the hospital, describe the quality of Esperanza's care giving.

2. In what way could one see that there is even a subtle class system inherent among migrant workers?

3. How is the act of Esperanza's gift of the porcelain doll symbolic?

4. In what way is Mama's illness a commentary on the working conditions of the migrant workers?

5. At dinner when the family discusses the strike and its progress, how does Miguel's outlook differ from his father's outlook about the support for the strike?

6. Isabel wants to be the May Day Queen. When she tells Esperanza this, what is ironic about her reason for wanting to be this queen?

7. What is the significance of Esperanza's visit to the hospital on Christmas Day?

8. In Chapter 11, the strikers want to impede the progress of the asparagus harvest. Why is that an effective tactic?

9. How does the short, intimate exchange Mama and Esperanza have after the jamaica effect Esperanza's mood?

10. Comment on the image of communal life at this work camp once the work day is over that Ryan portrays in Chapter 7.

(see the answer keys)

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