View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Nahum Landa know Reymundo Maruri?

2. According to Urrea, what connotation does "pollo" carry when talking about chicken?

3. What country did the walkers leave during their border crossing?

4. What name is initially ascribed to all of the men who died on the journey described within the book?

5. When do most border crossings from Mexico take place?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Melchior Diaz?

2. According to Urrea, what is the most sensible interpretation of the sign "USA Prohibido!" for Spanish-speakers?

3. Who is Ken Smith?

4. Who oversaw the human smuggling operation that led the Yuma 14 into the desert?

5. According to Urrea, how did Operation Gatekeeper change border crossings?

6. Who was the man that Border Patrol agents referred to as "Rooster Boy"?

7. What was the banzai run?

8. Who joined Reymundo Barreda Maruri Sr. on his journey?

9. Why do some guides feed their walkers diet pills?

10. What is done with the dead at the consulate building before they are prepared for burial?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Devil's Highway is populated with an array of pseudonyms. Many of the people described are introduced as "John Doe" (32) and similar aliases. In some cases, aliases are all that we are ever given. Use evidence from the text, including direct statements of intent within the afterword, to interpret the significance of Urrea's decision to shroud the book's subjects in layers of anonymity and pseudonymity.

Essay Topic 2

Urrea writes in the afterword, "The border can be seen either as a hideous scare that binds two warring cultures together.... Or it can be seen as an imaginary line that unites overlapping human tribes" (234). Write an essay comparing and contrasting these two visions of the border. Cite passages in the text that correspond to either vision, analyzing Urrea's rhetoric and choice of details to determine which vision is expressed.

Essay Topic 3

Economic forces drive and support many of the events described over the course of the Devil's Highway and Urrea goes into some detail describing them. Write a paper analyzing Urrea's presentation of the significance of these forces. Use details from the text to describe the economic influences at play, interpret Urrea's analysis, and respond with your own critique or elaboration upon Urrea's thinking.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 646 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample