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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. Mexico lacks basic industries except for one - what is it?

2. How did the Revolution relate to reality?

3. What does Paz mean by the word, "community"?

4. According to Paz, what is the "contemporary crisis"? (Chapter Seven, page 172).

5. Why have Mexican culture and politics vacillated from one extreme to another? (Chapter Seven, page 157).

Short Essay Questions

1. Who was Sor Juana? Why was she an unusual person both in South America and in old Spain?

2. What is Paz's definition of "community"? How is that definition knowingly idealistic?

3. What role did Catholicism play in the lives of the conquering Spaniards? Was that role contradictory?

4. Why could Mexico not have progressed as far as she has today if she were working within capitalism?

5. How was the Revolution similar to a fiesta? Because of any existing similarity, why do the people cling to that time in history? Can that be considered healthy?

6. When did Independence begin in Mexico? How was it similar to or different from the Conquest?

7. Why did the new Constitution mandate that education be secular? How might that have made the Mexicans feel?

8. What does Paz think of the Soviet Union? How does it compare to Mexico?

9. What is the role of the Mexican intelligentsia within society? How does it differ from the function of the intelligentsia within the United States and Europe; and which one is a better role?

10. Despite Mexico's advancements, where does she still stand on the world spectrum? How can she change her placement?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does Paz's writing style mirror the subject? When is he vociferous? When does it feel that he is holding something back?

Essay Topic 2

Who is the Chingada? What roots does she have in Aztec religion and history? Like her opposite, the Virgin of Guadalupe, is redemption possible?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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