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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. What does Makina say she wants to do when the man tells her that the family who lived there moved?

2. What is Makina’s brother told he will be doing, by taking this job?

3. What does Makina’s brother’s third note say?

4. How does Makina’s brother answer when she asks if he got hurt?

5. What does the narrator say had happened to whatever had been in this place previously?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Makina’s brother say happened to him after he went to the land?

2. What does Makina find at the address she has been traveling toward?

3. What is Makina’s reaction when she sees her brother?

4. Who is the man who evicts Makina from the ATM booth?

5. Who does Makina find at the address she gets from the restaurant?

6. How does Makina find the boy from the bus?

7. How does Makina’s brother explain why Mexican people stay in the U.S.?

8. What does Makina think she will do if they tell her bad news?

9. What does Makina learn about her brother from the old woman?

10. How does Makina’s brother describe his experience of war?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 2

Assess the nature and quality of Makina’s relationships with boys in Signs Preceding the End of the World. Who does she have relations with, and what are the assumptions that guide those relationships? Are all of her relationships similar, or are there qualitative differences between her relationships? What do her relationships with boys tell us about her character?

Essay Topic 3

Assess Herrera’s novel as a contribution to contemporary discussions of immigration in the U.S. What is Herrera saying, and how does it fit with perspectives other commentators or elected officials are taking? Whose arguments can Herrera be said to be backing? Which arguments is his book a refutation of?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 890 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample