Questions for Close Reading

1. What is the selection's thesis (or dominant impression)? Locate the sentence(s) in which Parks states his main idea. If he doesn't state the thesis explicitly, express it in your own words.

2. What is Flavio's family like? Why does Flavio have so much responsibility in the household?

3. What are some of the distinctive characteristics of Flavio's neighborhood and home?

4. What seems to be the basis of Flavio's fear of giving food to Parks and Gallo? What did Parks and Gallo understand that led them to refuse?

5. Refer to your dictionary as needed to define the following words used in the selec¬tion: barrios (paragraph 1), jacaranda (2), jaundiced (3), and spigot (14).