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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. When Isabel and her family learn where they have actually landed in their boat, what does an official tell them will happen if they come all the way ashore?
(a) They will be held in a detention center.
(b) They will be granted sanctuary.
(c) They will be deported back to Cuba.
(d) They will be imprisoned immediately.

2. When Josef's ship's engines roar to life for the first time since arriving in a Cuban harbor, where do the passengers believe the ship will be going next?
(a) Cypress.
(b) Poland.
(c) Germany.
(d) Lesbos.

3. As Mahmoud and his family wait at the border between Greece and Macedonia, what is NOT a planned stop on the rest of their journey to safety?
(a) Hungary.
(b) Serbia.
(c) Lesbos.
(d) Gevgelija.

4. What does Mahmoud do to honor his deceased fellow passenger when he takes the man's life jacket and buries him at sea?
(a) He turns the man toward Mecca.
(b) He washes the man's face.
(c) He says a funeral prayer.
(d) He shuts the man's eyes.

5. Who appears next to Josef's ship and manages to convince authorities to release his two daughters from the ship?
(a) The girls' aunt.
(b) The girls' mother.
(c) The girls' brother.
(d) The girls' father.

Short Answer Questions

1. What island is the intended destination when Mahmoud and his family set out on the rubber dinghy?

2. Who rescues Josef's father Aaron from the sea after Aaron jumps overboard?

3. What is the name of the man who saves Josef's father and is later celebrated for his heroism at a reception on the ship?

4. When Captain Schroeder assures the passengers of Josef's ship that they will not return to Germany, what other plan does he say he will be enacting?

5. What does Isabel do just before Ivan's body is buried at sea?

Short Essay Questions

1. Whenever Mahmoud or his father wonder where Mahmoud's mother is, where do they inevitably find her and what is she doing?

2. Why does Isabel not want to look at the face of her dead best friend Ivan?

3. For what reasons does Lito take on the role of leading Ivan's funeral ceremony?

4. What change occurs in Josef's mother's personality once the MS St. Louis leaves Cuba?

5. What shocking detail does Mahmoud's father reveal to his family once they have been thrown into the water by their dinghy's destruction on the rocks?

6. How are the roles of father and son reversed within the scene when Schiendick leaves Josef and his family alone in their cabin after tormenting them?

7. What reaction do the other passengers of the MS St. Louis have to Renata and Evelyne being allowed to leave the ship to join their father?

8. What is the reason given for the firemen on the ship engaging in bad behavior while the ship is docked in Cuba and what are they said to be doing?

9. Though the narrator states that a few of the refugees Mahmoud sees when boarding the dinghy have backpacks or plastic bags, how are most of the refugees carrying their belongings?

10. What happens to Mahmoud's family on the way from Belgrade to the Hungarian border?

(see the answer keys)

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