Latin American Magic Realist Voices Answers

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Read the excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban.I was only two years old when I left Cuba but I remember everything that’s happened to me since I was a baby, even word-for-word conversations. I was sitting in my grandmother’s lap, playing with her drop pearl earrings, when my mother told her we were leaving the country. Abuela Celia called her a traitor to the revolution. Mom tried to pull me away but I clung to the Abuela and screamed at the top of my lungs. My grandfather came running and said, “Celia, let the girl go. She belongs with Lourdes.” This was the last time I saw her.How does the structure of the excerpt add meaning to the passage?

A
It uses several narrators to provide conflicting points of view.
B
It provides characterization for Celia as it reveals her physical appearance.
C
It uses a flashback to reveal the difficult relationship between Lourdes and Celia.
D
It includes dialogue to indicate that the characters in the nonfiction account are real people.
2
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Read the excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban.That’s it. My mind’s made up. I’m going back to Cuba. I’m fed up with everything around here. I take all my money out of the bank, $120, money I earned slaving away at my mother’s bakery, and buy a one-way bus ticket to Miami. I figure if I can just get there, I’ll be able to make my way to Cuba, maybe rent a boat or get a fisherman to take me. I imagine Abuela [grandmother] Celia’s surprise as I sneak up behind her. She’ll be sitting in her wicker swing overlooking the sea and she’ll smell of salt and violet water. There’ll be gulls and crabs along the shore. She’ll stroke my cheek with her cool hands, sing quietly in my ear.The complex narrative structure used in the excerpt is an example of

A
establishing a work of fiction that is based on nonfiction.
B
several narrators being used.
C
unconventional text features.
D
the chronological order of events being manipulated.
3

Read the excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban.If it were up to me, I’d record other things. Like the time there was a freak hailstorm in the Congo and the women took it as a sign that they should rule . . . Why don’t I know anything about them? Who chooses what we should know or what’s important? I know I have to decide these things for myself. Most of what I’ve learned that’s important I’ve learned on my own, or from my grandmother.What does the excerpt reveal about Cristina Garcia?

A
Her background in journalism has made the writing of realistic fiction more difficult for her.
B
Her background in journalism has helped her research and use realistic details in her fiction.
C
Her background in journalism has prevented her from using magic realism in her fiction.
D
Her background in journalism has caused her to become an efficient and thorough editor.
4

Which excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban best exemplifies magic realism?

A
Her name is Minnie French but she’s weirdly old-looking for a young person. Maybe it’s her name or the three shopping bags of food she has under her seat.
B
I stared at them, tried to make them go away. I remember thinking, Okay, I’ll start with their hair, make it fall out strand by strand. They always left wearing kerchiefs to cover their bald patches.
C
There were beef cattle and dairy cows, horses, pigs, goats, and lambs. Dad fed them molasses to fatten them, and gave the chickens corn and sorghum until they laid vermilion eggs, rich with vitamins.
D
Our house is on a cement plot near the East River. At night, especially in the summer when the sound carries, I hear the low whistles of the ships as they leave New York harbor.
5

Which strategy would be least useful for helping students monitor comprehension of a text as they are reading?

A
breaking long sentences into short phrases
B
slowing down and reading the text aloud
C
skimming the text to reach the conclusion
D
relating the text to prior personal knowledge
6

Read the excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban.Lourdes considers herself lucky. Immigration has redefined her, and she is grateful. Unlike her husband, she welcomes her adopted language, its possibilities for reinvention. Lourdes relishes winter most of all—the cold scraping sounds on sidewalks and windshields, the ritual of scarves and gloves, hats and zip-in coat linings. Its layers protect her. She wants no part of Cuba, no part of its wretched carnival floats creaking with lies, no part of Cuba at all, which Lourdes claims never possessed her.Which sentence is an example of magic realism?

A
Unlike her husband, she welcomes her adopted language, its possibilities for reinvention.
B
Lourdes relishes winter most of all—the cold scraping sounds on sidewalks and windshields, the ritual of scarves and gloves, hats and zip-in coat linings.
C
Its layers protect her.
D
She wants no part of Cuba, no part of its wretched carnival floats creaking with lies, no part of Cuba at all, which Lourdes claims never possessed her.
7

Which sentence from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban is an example of magic realism?

A
Abuela Celia and I write to each other sometimes, but mostly I hear her speaking to me at night just before I fall asleep.
B
At night, especially in the summer when the sound carries, I hear the low whistles of the ships as they leave New York harbor.
C
Lourdes imagines these pieces, broken and bruised in unspeakable places, on piers and in alleyways, drifting down the river to the sea.
D
One girl left with a broken leg after slipping on a bar of soap Pilar dropped while the nanny was bathing her in the sink.
8

Read the excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban.My mother says that Abuela Celia’s had plenty of chances to leave Cuba but that she’s stubborn and got her head turned around by El Líder. Mom says “Communist” the way some people says “cancer,” low and fierce.Which element from this excerpt best characterizes Garcia’s story as one of magic realism?

A
linking the words “communist” and “cancer”
B
presenting the idea of leaving Cuba as an extraordinary event
C
using El Líder as an additional narrator from Cuba
D
connecting Celia with Latin American history
9

Which complex narrative structure is underutilized by Cristina Garcia in Dreaming in Cuban?

A
the attention given to presenting the work as fiction
B
the use of unconventional textual features
C
the representation of several narrators
D
the manipulation of the chronological order of events
10

Read the excerpt from Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban.My father knew I understood more than I could say. He told me stories about Cuba after Columbus came. He said that the Spaniards wiped out more Indians with smallpox than with muskets.Which best describes an element of magic realism used by Garcia in this excerpt?

A
She shows the close relationship that Pilar had with her father.
B
She connects the events to the colonial history of Latin America.
C
She is a modern writer developing a story about Spanish history.
D
She characterizes Columbus’s discovery as an extraordinary event.

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