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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What did the family expect Makina’s brother to do for them?
2. What did Makina’s brother expect to get in return for taking this person’s place in the army?
3. What does Makina’s brother say typically initiated periods of activity for him and his fellow soldiers?
4. What does Makina’s brother say happened after he went to the land?
5. Why does Makina not want to call the cops for help?
Short Essay Questions
1. What happened when Makina’s brother came back from the war?
2. How does the narrator describe Makina's transition from one city to the next?
3. What does Makina think she will do if they tell her bad news?
4. What does Makina find at the address she has been traveling toward?
5. What does Makina learn about the job her brother took?
6. Who does Makina find at the address she gets from the restaurant?
7. What does Makina learn about her brother from the old woman?
8. How does Makina free herself and the others who have been collected by the cop?
9. What is Makina’s reaction when she sees her brother?
10. Who does Makina meet at the army base before she meets her brother?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
When is Signs Preceding the End of the World most itself? What is its characteristic passage, or moment? What makes that moment or passage the most representative of the book as a whole? Are there any places where the book seems to depart from its typical self, as if to become a different book?
Essay Topic 2
Explore the role of the helper characters in Signs Preceding the End of the World. From Chucho to the old women and men, Makina gets assistance from a number of places. What do these supporting characters have in common? How do they compare to the characters who threaten Makina? What do those characters have in common as well?
What are the values that animate supporting characters on either side? How do these supporting characters, both benevolent and threatening, imply competing world views?
Essay Topic 3
Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?
This section contains 953 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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