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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 Don Moi feel to hear the travelers laughing on the bus?

2. According to the notes of U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, what did the walkers consume to survive after they were abandoned by the Coyotes?

3. What is the first stage of hyperthermia?

4. Whose idea was it for the remaining Coyotes to go their separate way?

5. Which of the Coyotes died when the last two Coyotes abandoned the walkers?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the initial signs of heat stress?

2. Why did Reymundo Sr. tear up his American money?

3. According to Urrea, what do people crossing the desert have to resort to doing "sooner or later" (126).

4. What geographical feature did Mendez get lost in, as if it were a maze?

5. Why did the Cercas gang like working with brothers?

6. What are the toilets of budget border motels incapable of doing?

7. What mistake did the Coyotes make when the men arrived at the big rock?

8. What happens to the expedition led by Santos?

9. Why were officials skeptical when Mendez claimed that he planned to return for the walkers?

10. Why did Mendez tell the men to pretend that they were going to San Luis?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Despite being an entirely natural space, the desert of The Devil's Highway is often described in language connoting artificial, alien, or supernatural forces. Cite evidence from the text to demonstrate one of these patterns in Urrea's word choice and the context in which this rhetoric is employed. Conclude by explaining the influence these decisions have on Urrea's characterization of the desert.

Essay Topic 2

High rates of immigration can bring demographic change, revealing ethnic tensions. Write an essay exploring Urrea's rhetoric regarding race and ethnicity, tracing the relationship between racial attitudes and immigration policy.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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This section contains 632 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample