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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. The narrator remarks that despite the number of dead bodies Mahmoud has seen, the experience of "seeing death" (180) never stops being what?

2. When Isabel first sees the lights of Miami, what does she think she is seeing instead?

3. Mahmoud's family makes the decision not to wait in Athens to acquire what items?

4. For whom does Josef tear his clothing in recognition of his own loss of the person?

5. How long does it take Josef's ship to sail from Havana to within viewing distance of Miami?

Short Essay Questions

1. What about Waleed's reaction to being held at gunpoint worries Mahmoud about his brother even more than before?

2. 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?

3. What occurs when Isabel and her family realize they have landed on the Bahamas?

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

5. What is Josef's mother's plan for procuring a sleeping potion to help calm her husband Aaron down?

6. How do Mahmoud and his family reach the Serbian border on their journey fleeing Syria?

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

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

9. For what purpose does Josef leave his father Aaron alone in the family's cabin when his mother is asleep?

10. What plans for his life in Florida does Señor Castillo reveal to the remaining passengers in the boat after Ivan's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of The Individual versus Society is demonstrated within Alan Gratz's Refugee.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the instances of irony within the novel's narrative and analyze the author's purpose for including each instance you discuss.

Essay Topic 3

Sensory details are used frequently by the author in order to create vivid pictures of each major character's journey and progression through the narrative. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author set a particular mood for each of the three scenes.

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This section contains 1,115 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample