|Name: _________________________||Period: ___________________|
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Now that Rodriguez is an adult and done with school, what does his mother ask him to do?
2. What happens at the swimming pool to make Rodriguez aware of his skin color?
3. What is the main reason for Rodriguez's success?
4. When does Rodriguez think that minority students should get help?
5. What is the Third World Student Movement?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does Rodriguez think about the Civil Rights Movement?
2. How does Rodriguez overcome his attitudes about dark skin? Give two specific examples.
3. What does Rodriguez's mother tell him about writing about their family? What does his editor tell him?
4. Rodriguez looks at the students of the 1960s and 1970s from a teacher's perspective. What does he see as the difference between them?
5. As more minority students attend college, what does Rodriguez notice about their relationship to their culture? Give specific examples.
6. What does Rodriguez learn from working with the construction workers? Give two specific examples.
7. As a teacher, how does Rodriguez interact with these other minority students? Why does he act that way?
8. How does Rodriguez feel about writing? How does he feel about writing about his family? How has he handled it in the past? How is he handling it now?
9. As a child, what does Rodriguez learn about dark skin?
10. What are Rodriguez's parents' ideas about masculine and feminine characteristics? How does that affect Rodriguez?
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Rodriguez says that writing is difficult and writing about his family is very difficult. When he is younger, he makes up elaborate lies about his family. As an adult, he chooses to write this book about his family, which is intended to be a realistic portrayal of his relationship with them.
Part One: If writing is difficult and he does it anyway, what does that tell you about what he has to say?
Part Two: Why is writing about his family more difficult than other types of writing? Why did he lie about his family when he was younger? Is he telling the truth about them now? Why or why not?
Essay Topic 2
Rodriguez identifies with a student description in a textbook, the "scholarship boy." He feels that is a good representation of how he was as a student.
Part One: Describe the scholarship boy. Identify how that type of student is seen by the teacher, by fellow classmates, and how he sees himself. Identify why Rodriguez related to that description, and use specific examples to support your answer.
Part Two: Write a brief description of the kind of student you are. Identify how that type of student is seen by the teacher, by fellow classmates, and how he/she sees himself/herself. Compare and contrast your description with that of the scholarship boy.
Essay Topic 3
Rodriguez's attitude about complexion was affected by the "Black is Beautiful" movement. This movement preached that people should accept themselves for who they are rather than trying to match a specific idealized image. At that time, the idealized image was inevitably the image of a white person, which made it difficult for non-whites to see themselves as beautiful.
Part One: What was Rodriguez's attitude about his complexion as a child? What did the people around him say about his complexion?
Part Two: Besides the "Black is Beautiful" movement, what other things changed Rodriguez's attitude about his complexion? How did his attitude change? What do the people around him say about his skin color now that he is an adult?
This section contains 1,175 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page)