Dominicana

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Parts 1-2

Reading Check

1. How old is Ana when Juan proposes to her?

2. What is Ana’s older sister’s name?

3. Juan’s landlord in New York encourages him to look for work in what kind of business?

4. What is the name of Juan’s brother who picks Ana and Juan up at the airport?

5. What business does Juan specifically forbid Ana from entering if he is not with her?

6. What famous leader’s assassination does Ana hear taking place?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When the story opens, what historical event has just occurred in the Dominican Republic, and how is it impacting Ana’s community?

2. What is Ana’s attitude toward her sister’s romance with El Guardia?

3. What does Ana suspect is true about Juan’s more formal proposal when she is a teenager and he briefly returns to the Dominican Republic?

4. What is the meaning of Mamá’s question to Ana about manatees and sharks?

5. When Ana arrives, what do the details of the New York apartment’s condition reveal about Juan’s character?

6. What does Ana learn about Juan when she accidentally opens the door to a neighbor?

Paired Resource

“A Changing Neighborhood” and “40 Black and White Photos Capture Everyday Life of Washington Heights in the 1970s”

• The first resource is an article from the Leo Baeck Institute describing the demographic changes in Washington Heights during the 1960s.
• The second resource is a collection of photographs from Washington Heights in the 1970s (about 10 years after Ana’s arrival in the neighborhood).
• These resources relate to the theme of The Pursuit of the American Dream.
• What relationship does Washington Heights have to the American Dream? Why might Dominican immigrants like Juan be drawn to Washington Heights? When large numbers of Dominicans began arriving in the 1960s, what moves did they make to gain an economic foothold? How might Ana’s life be easier if Juan would let her move more freely around Washington Heights?

“What is Sexual Coercion?”

This clear and succinct explanation of sexual coercion is hosted by the nonprofit Love is Respect. This resource contains very little explicit detail, but you may wish to preview it to make sure it is suited to your teaching context.

• This resource relates to the theme of Women as Powerful Agents of Change.
• Given the circumstances of Ana’s marriage, her age, and her feelings about sex with Juan, would you say Juan is being sexually coercive toward Ana? How might this impact her feelings about herself and her power over her own life? In a time when American women were rapidly gaining more power in the world, why might patriarchal systems encourage men to treat their wives the way Juan treats Ana?

Parts 3-4

Reading Check

1. What gift does Marisela give Ana when she comes to pay Juan the money that she owes him?

2. What does Ana mix into Juan’s food to try to give him food poisoning?

3. Who is Yrene?

4. What show does César take Ana to see at Radio City Music Hall?

5. What classes does Ana begin taking in Part 4?

6. What does Ana begin paying for on Teresa’s behalf with the money she makes from selling pastelitos?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Ana discover from Juan’s letter to Caridad?

2. When Marisela comes over to spend time with Ana, what dream for her future does she reveal?

3. How does Ana show insight and determination during the visit to El Basement with Juan?

4. Why is Ana so hurt by Marisela’s reaction when she finally locates Marisela?

5. How are recent political events in the Dominican Republic impacting Juan’s family?

6. What plan does César come up with to help Ana sell many pastelitos at once?

Paired Resource

“New Clothes”

• This poem by Dominican American author Julia Alvarez depicts a young speaker’s admiration for an older female relative’s sewing.
• This resource relates to the theme of The Pursuit of the American Dream and Women as Powerful Agents of Change.
• What is happening on a literal level in this poem? What does the woman’s sewing seem to represent to the speaker? How does she feel about it? How does the allusion to Ariadne and other elements of the poem convey a sense of the power of women, even when they are limited to domestic tasks? How is this related to the ways in which Ana makes money? How do diction, details, figurative language, and images in this poem support the idea that the poem is, at least in part, about pursuing the American Dream? How does its message relate to messages about the American Dream in Dominicana?

“Their Only Child”

• In this brief poem, Dominican-born poet Rhina P. Espaillat compares being the child left to take responsibility of the parents to being a fish biting on a hook.
• This resource relates to the theme of Family Versus the Individual.
• What is this poem’s central conceit? What does this comparison imply? In what sense is Ana, too, like a fish on a hook? Which other characters in Dominicana feel a responsibility to put the needs of family before their own needs? Which characters are more like the “escaped” siblings the speaker of this poem talks about? What does Ana’s willingness to sacrifice for her family convey about both her background and her personality?

Parts 5-6

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the cousin that Yohnny falls in love with?

2. When Hector comes over to watch baseball with César and Ana, what current political situation do they discuss?

3. What is La Luna Llena?

4. What bittersweet news does Ana read in Yohnny’s last letter to her?

5. What does Ana name her daughter?

6. At the end of the novel, where does Ana go to buy chocolate?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Ana writes her own imagined obituary, what kind of a life does she describe for herself?

2. How does César’s termination from his factory job illustrate the way that prejudice impacts Dominican immigrants?

3. How does Ana’s relationship with César change after the dance at the Audubon?

4. When Juan returns home, what news does he share that makes Ana wish she had already left New York with César?

5. When Marisela and her husband come over to buy suits, what does Juan say that surprises Ana enough to make her spill a tray of coffee and water?

6. When Juan gets angry about the spilled coffee and water, how does Ana’s response demonstrate how much she has changed?

Recommended Next Reads 

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

• Fleeing Trujillo’s persecution, the Garcia sisters and their parents arrive in New York City in 1960 where they must find a way to adapt to their new home while retaining their cultural identity.
• The novel shares themes of The Pursuit of the American Dream, Women as Powerful Agents of Change, and Family Versus the Individual.
• The novel shares topics of Dominican culture and history, immigration, coming of age, and gender inequity.
• How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents on SuperSummary

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

• This young adult novel-in-verse tells the story of Xiomara Batista, a young woman of Dominican descent struggling to find her place in contemporary Harlem, who uses her powerful poetry to process her dreams and frustrations.
• This shares themes of Women as Powerful Agents of Change and Family Versus the Individual.
• This novel also shares topics of Dominican culture, immigration, coming of age, and gender inequity.
• The Poet X on SuperSummary