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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. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what nineteenth century America poet is mentioned?
(a) Emily Dickinson.
(b) Paul Laurence Dunbar.
(c) Louisa May Alcott.
(d) Walt Whitman.

2. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what twentieth century American movie is alluded to?
(a) Star Wars.
(b) Carmen.
(c) Raging Bull.
(d) 2001: A Space Odyssey.

3. In "If I Should Come Upon Your House Lonely in the West Texas Desert," to whom does the speaker allude when she says "Each steaming bowl will be, Just right" (81)?
(a) Little Red Riding Hood.
(b) Goldilocks.
(c) Snow White.
(d) The Frog Prince.

4. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," what does the speaker say can "make you clean" (42)?
(a) Grief.
(b) Sand.
(c) Rain.
(d) Ash.

5. What name for the Mojave people does the speaker share in "The First Water Is the Body"?
(a) Achumawi.
(b) Me-wuk.
(c) 'Aha Makav.
(d) Te'po'ta'ahl.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Isn't the Air Also a Body, Moving?" what does the speaker compare breathing to?

2. In "Grief Work," what do the words "Auxocromo" and "Cromóforo" refer to?

3. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," what does the speaker say is the "first violence against any body of water" (64)?

4. Who is the Jacques Derrida mentioned in "The First Water Is the Body"?

5. In "Waist and Sway," the page 78 line "Oh, City--where hands turned holy" is an example of what literary technique?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Isn't the Air Also a Body, Moving?" what leads the speaker to call the train caboose the best part of a train?

2. In "Snake-Light," what comparison does the speaker make between snakes and writing?

3. In "exhibits from The American Water Museum," what does the guidebook say?

4. In "It Was the Animals," what does the speaker's guest tell her the inscription is, and what is it in reality?

5. In "My Brother, My Wound," how is light used metaphorically?

6. In "Ode to the Beloved's Hips," what metaphorical comparison is developed in the lines, "How many hours bowed against this Infinity of Blessed/ Trinity?" (37)?

7. In "It Was the Animals," who comes to the speaker's house, and what is that person carrying?

8. In "The First Water Is the Body," what are the speaker's concerns about explaining to a non-Indian audience that for her people, the river and the body are one thing?

9. In "The First Water Is the Body," what point does the speaker make about the limitations of words?

10. In "The First Water Is the Body," what specific concern does the speaker have about the Colorado River?

(see the answer keys)

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