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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. What does Father Juilliard say he has to use in order to bribe the children to attend school?

2. What excuse does Rat give to Father Juilliard when Rat wants to use the school's computer?

3. What does Raphael say is the reason that he and the other dumpsite boys do not wear shoes?

4. In what area of the chapel are the children forbidden to speak or to make any noise?

5. How old are Raphael and Gardo within the narrative?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do Raphael and Gardo continue working nonchalantly after they find the leather bag full of money?

2. Besides the cash, what item inside the leather bag convinces Rat that Jose Angelico, the purported owner of the bag, is a wealthy man?

3. Describe the scene in which Raphael is taken from his home and is forced into the police car.

4. What is different about the day the police come to orchestrate the search for the leather bag, versus a normal day within the dumpsite?

5. What are three cases that Pascal Aguila took on and won during his career?

6. When Raphael is finally released from the police station, why does he laugh as he walks home?

7. What is the main point of Grace's piece of narration from the story?

8. What had Father Juilliard's original intentions been with regard to the Pascal Aguila Mission School and how had those intentions changed later?

9. What reason does Grace give for Pia Dante not having lived with her father, Jose Angelico, while he was still alive?

10. When Raphael says that he and Gardo might as well be brothers, what evidence does he give to support this conclusion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the interplay between the climax of the novel Trash and its denouement. How does the author employ them and how does their juxtaposition help him get across the main message of the novel? Use quotes from the narrative to prove your claim.

Essay Topic 2

A great number of Trash's narrators refer to the subject of trust at different points within the novel. Trace these mentions, explain each instance's circumstances, and discuss the overall message the author sends about the subject of trust. Include concrete details from the novel to support your points.

Essay Topic 3

The theme of power is one that comes up often within the novel's narrative, particularly in relation to dumpsite boys' feelings of powerlessness and their realizations about the enormous power that the government wields recklessly. Choose three instances when power is wielded by a particular character or organization within the novel. Discuss how these instances help to shape the author's message regarding power.

(see the answer keys)

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