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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Thieu work?

2. Where does Francine find a footlocker of old letters her father wrote?

3. What is the subject matter of the photos on the narrator’s desk when he receives Thap’s file in Chapter 1?

4. In Chapter 7, how old was the narrator when he married?

5. Where did Khanh and his wife grow up?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Miss Noi’s apartment like in Saigon?

2. How did Miss Noi get to America?

3. How did the Chapter 1 narrator lose his wife?

4. When and how did Khanh’s wife’s father die?

5. Who is Thap?

6. What did Fran do to try to figure out what cold weather felt like?

7. What was at the Ham Nghi market in Chapter 2?

8. What are two things in Chapter 7 that are exceptional about the narrator?

9. What happens to the narrator in Chapter 7 when he tries to throw a hog’s bladder over his rival’s house?

10. How does Mr. Green die in Chapter 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The characters in the novel were immigrants from Vietnam.

a. What types of struggles did these immigrants have as they adjusted to living in the United States?

b. Did money or a lack of money affect how easily or difficult it was to assimilate into American society?

c. What were some of the ways that the characters adjusted to their new lives?

d. Why was it easier for some to adjust than others?

Essay Topic 2

A different narrator tells each of the stories.

a. What is a common theme in these stories?

b. How does the author unify the different stories?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 13, the narrator is preparing her friend’s body for burial, but also preparing for something else. Why is the narrator preparing his friend’s body for burial? Why does this act remind the narrator of her love for Ly? Why, now, can the narrator finally have her love returned?

(see the answer keys)

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