City of the Beasts

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. When does the book’s narrative perspective shift temporarily?

A) During Nadia and Alex’s first encounter with the People of the Mist

B) During Nadia’s first conversation with Walimai

C) During Nadia’s attempt to retrieve the crystal eggs

D) During Nadia and Alex’s kidnapping by the People of the Mist

2. What is a significant way that Nadia influences Alex?

A) She helps him learn to stand up for himself.

B) She helps him learn to trust his own decisions.

C) She helps him become more open-minded.

D) She helps him become less impulsive.

3. What aspect of his own nature does Alex understand more fully after learning about his connection to the jaguar?

A) His capacity for violence

B) His strength and power

C) His ability as a hunter

D) His stealth and cunning

4. What is the best description of Nadia’s character?

A) Talkative, flirtatious, confident

B) Skeptical, clever, sarcastic

C) Shy, contemplative, bookish

D) Intuitive, knowledgeable, trusting

5. What is the most reasonable interpretation of Kate’s unusual approach to being Alex’s grandparent?

A) She believes that she is helping Alex grow and mature.

B) She does not really enjoy being around young people.

C) Alex reminds her uncomfortably of her own deceased husband.

D) Alex’s ignorance of the world embarrasses her.

6. What character is most realistic in their understanding of the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon?

A) Omayra Torres

B) César Santos

C) Ludovic Leblanc

D) Captain Ariosto

7. What character is able to hide their true nature from Alex and Nadia for most of the story?

A) Capitan Ariosto

B) Mauro Carías

C) Omayra Torres

D) Walimai

8. What is the most reasonable interpretation of the symbol of Alex’s flute?

A) It represents peace and connection.

B) It represents wisdom and insight.

C) It represents joy and playfulness.

D) It represents persistence and skill.

9. What most clearly represents Alex’s growing ability to appreciate things that are unfamiliar?

A) His changing relationship to Kate

B) His changing relationship to music

C) His changing relationship to Nadia

D) His changing relationship to food

10. What conveys both the book’s thematic concern with Indigenous peoples and the book’s concern with appearance and reality?

A) Alex’s quest for the water of health

B) The inclusion of the El Dorado myth

C) The inclusion of the monkey Borobá

D) The anaconda attacking Joel Gonzales

11. What concept do the unusual appearances of the People of the Mist, the nature of the Beasts, and the Amazon rainforest itself all illustrate?

A) Illusion

B) Reciprocity

C) Freedom

D) Duality

12. What is suggested by Alex and Nadia’s relationship?

A) Logic and intuition are complementary approaches.

B) Logic is generally a more successful approach than intuition.

C) Caution and passion seldom exist in the same person.

D) Passion should not be allowed to overwhelm caution.

13. What best conveys the book’s thematic concern with the difference between appearance and reality?

A) Nadia’s and her father’s beliefs about the Amazon

B) Alex’s beliefs about his parents

C) The expedition members’ beliefs about the Beasts

D) Kate’s beliefs about her job as a journalist

14. What best conveys the book’s thematic concern with the power of mindfulness?

A) The speeches at the council meetings of the Beasts

B) Iyomi’s intuitive understanding of Alex’s and Nadia’s strengths

C) Walimai’s mystical connection with his angel-wife

D) Alex’s thoughts while he is in the jungle tunnel

15. What is most clearly supported by the story as a whole?

A) There are just as many good Indigenous people as there are bad Indigenous people.

B) Indigenous peoples have a right to live undisturbed on the land they have historically occupied.

C) Indigenous peoples are completely capable of solving their own problems.

D) Colonial peoples should spend time living in and learning from Indigenous communities.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. What is ironic about the way Alex and Nadia view Karakawe for most of the story?

2. How does the setting of the Amazon play an important role in Alex’s development as a person?