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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. How did Wendell’s son die?

2. What does Ana buy at the end of the chapter titled “Ana”?

3. What does Leona do to force the city to see her?

4. What does mother purchase for Tio Juan?

5. What does Sam notice about the gardeners, in terms of location?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does gardening help Tio Juan in the chapter “Gonzalo”?

2. Why does Leona decide she needs to do something about the lot?

3. What is the “Garcia Equation”?

4. What is the problem with water in the lot, and how does Sam deal with it?

5. Why does Kim’s family keep a photo of their father at an alter?

6. Why does Ana purchase binoculars at the end of the chapter titled “Ana”?

7. Why do you think Tio Juan becomes “childish” in the book?

8. Why do you think Wendell becomes attached to the bean plants, as Ana did?

9. How do the plants give Wendell hope?

10. What is the cultural problem Sam finds about the lot?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Several times in the novel, the characters mention that the community garden gives them hope. Wendell, in particular, notes that he can’t change his life, but he can use the garden to change his circumstances. Sae Young, too, uses the garden to enhance her existence, as does Nora, and other characters. Choose three characters, and explain how the garden has given them hope, or changed their lives.

Essay Topic 2

In several chapters in the novel, characters go from being unable to function in society, to being a vital part of a thriving garden. How did this happen for Sae Young, Nora’s client, and Tio Juan? Why did the garden help them? How did it allow them a chance to become something they otherwise could not have been?

Essay Topic 3

What do you think the author was trying to get across with this novel? What was the primary theme? Was the author successful? How did the book make you feel? Did the author convince you of his primary point in writing the novel? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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