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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. Why did Catholicism drastically change the Aztec view of life?

2. What makes the foreigner skeptical about Mexicans (Chapter Four)?

3. What is Paz's opinion about the physical features distinguishing Mexicans from North Americans?

4. When Aztec victims were sacrificed, why did their deaths lack personal meaning?

5. What is the most valued trait in both the military and political realms?

Short Essay Questions

1. How important are fiestas in Mexican culture? What relationship exists between the fiesta and the individual?

2. What is the Mexican's ideal of manliness? How does it affect his interactions with other people?

3. Who represents the conflict that Mexicans have not been able to solve? What effect does that conflict have on their culture?

4. How does Paz explain the Mexican woman's role in society? How does that strip her of her personality?

5. What is the character of the Mexican's solitude? How does it differ from the solitude of the North American?

6. What is the greatest horror that a worker suffers? Do you think that is true?

7. What mutual problem do both the Mexican and the North American face? What is the solution to that problem?

8. What is left of the colonial world? Are those remnants the best or the worst parts that could be left behind?

9. In Chapter Three, the following idea is presented: "There is nothing so joyous as a Mexican fiesta, but there is also nothing so sorrowful. Fiesta night is also a night of mourning" (Chapter 3, page 53). What does that mean?

10. Why does the Mexican love Form? Other than in personal relationships, how does that idea express itself?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the organization of the book. How is the material organized? What are the chapter titles? Do the titles prepare you for the material presented?

Essay Topic 2

In modern Mexico, what are the contrasting ways of thinking (pg 119-20)? In that context, is Spanish heritage good? How do those two mindsets continue to influence current politics and thought?

Essay Topic 3

What personal experiences did Paz pull from to write the book? How did he incorporate them into the broader scope of Mexican history? How did that affect the tone?

(see the answer keys)

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