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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. After a time, Ayah realized that she could no longer do what with her two remaining children?
(a) Visit them.
(b) See them.
(c) Speak Navajo with them.
(d) Hug them.

2. Whom did the government person talk to about Jimmie's death?
(a) Chato.
(b) Ayah.
(c) The white rancher.
(d) Ayah's mother.

3. Over time, what did the visiting children begin to think of Ayah?
(a) They thought she was crazy.
(b) They thought she was backwards.
(c) They thought she was stupid.
(d) They thought she was just old.

4. What war did Jimmie leave to go fight?
(a) Vietnam War.
(b) Korean War.
(c) World War I.
(d) World War II.

5. When Danny and Ella came to visit, whom does Ayah remember came with them?
(a) Her mother and grandmother.
(b) White women.
(c) Her mother.
(d) Chato's family.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ayah remember is remarkable about elkhide moccasins?

2. The last time Ayah met with her children, how did Ella stare at her?

3. What did Ayah do by signing her name that she didn't realize until later?

4. What metaphor does Silko use to compare the snowflakes to as they enter the bar?

5. What happened to all of Ayah's other children?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why didn't Ayah sleep after the children are taken from her?

2. What is the purpose of the personification of the "freezing" at the end of the story?

3. Why didn't Ayah mourn Jimmie's death when she first hears the news?

4. Why does Ayah point out that Chato speaks both English and Spanish during the scene with the Army official? Why is this important?

5. Ayah states she is frightened by how the doctors look at the children, like lizards watching flies. Why does this metaphor drive home the predator and prey motif?

6. What is the significance of Chato being able to go into Azzie's Bar, where once Navajos are thrown out?

7. What is the significance of Ayah recognizing one of the white doctors who came to her home?

8. Why did Chato not like walking behind the old sheep he and Ayah owned?

9. Why did Ayah believe Chato is a stranger?

10. Why did Ayah not say good-bye to Danny and Ella during the last visit?

(see the answer keys)

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