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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 Jimmie's birth order?

2. Where does the story take place?

3. At the beginning of the second section, what is the weather doing?

4. What does the main character wear when thinking of her children?

5. According to Ayah's memory, what would have happened to her if she entered the bar years ago?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Ayah feel the men look at her like she is a spider?

2. Why did the men in the bar remind Ayah of the first time white people brought Danny and Ella back?

3. What does Ayah's walk back to the bar symbolize?

4. Why does Silko make a point of stating that the white doctors came before they hire Navajo women to go with them as interpreters?

5. What role did Azzie's bar play in Chato's development?

6. Why was the walk back to the bar a "hard walk" for Ayah?

7. What does Jimmie's true Navajo name being reduced to something as common as "Jimmie" in English say about the white man?

8. What is the significance of Ayah's tracks in the snow being filled by the falling snow until they're gone? How does this apply to Ayah's memories?

9. Why was Ayah satisfied when the white rancher fires Chato and evicted them from the shack?

10. What does Silko mean when she says that Ayah's life becomes memories?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the end of the story, Ayah sings a lullaby to Chato as he peacefully dies in his sleep during the bitter cold. How is the act representative of Ayah finding peace? In what ways does it support the Navajos' belief in the circle of life? What is the importance of song in Lullaby? How does the importance of oral tradition play into song and its usage in Lullaby? Use fact details from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Ayah states that the Navajo elders advise against learning the white man's language or his ways for it endangers them. How does Ayah's life story of tragedy at the hands of white prove the validity of this statement? In what ways does Chato embody that danger the elders warn about? Use the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Ayah feels that she doesn't know Chato, that they become strangers. In what ways does the theme of alienation play out in the story? Use fact details from the text to support your answer.

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