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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. Why does Juan Preciado come to Comala?

2. What do the man and the woman remember hearing Juan say?

3. What sin is the woman guilty of?

4. Who finds Juan's body?

5. What does Juan think his mother dies of?

Short Essay Questions

1. What clues are you given as to the boy's family's financial situation?

2. How do Pedro and Dolores part ways?

3. Why is the priest reluctant to marry don Pedro and Dolores?

4. What is the deal that Abundio and Eduviges make?

5. Why does Juan's mother hate having her picture taken?

6. Explain Miguel Paramo's fate.

7. Describe the encounter between Father Rentería and María Dyada after Eduviges' death.

8. What does the burro driver tell Juan about how don Pedro treats women?

9. How does Fulgor get Dolores to agree to marry Pedro?

10. How is Comala different from how Juan's mother describes it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Eduviges tells Juan that the secret of redemption is to die "when you want to" or else to force God "to take you before your time".

- Why do you think she says this?

- Much of the plot is developed through the stories of the dead. Why do you think Rulfo has ghosts tell the stories? What can we learn from the past? How does this relate to Eduviges' advice?

Essay Topic 2

"Pedro Páramo" has several structural elements that appear often in Modernist and Surrealist literature. Explain how the novel uses the following:

- Circular narrative

- Stories within stories

- Setting shifts

How do each of these contribute to the development of the plot.

Essay Topic 3

Sorrow is seen as an omnipresent and necessary part of life in Comala. Explain the characters' experience of sorrow in each of the following examples:

- Susana's mourning of Florencio

- Dorotea's sorrow over her unborn child

- Pedro's mourning over Susana

- Abundio's mourning over his wife

What are the consequences of each of these losses? How does the sorrow affect the lives of the ones left living? Would you agree that sorrow is necessary in life? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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