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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. What does Ai-lan's mother want Yuan to do?

2. Why does Yuan claim he cannot join the revolutionaries?

3. Why do parents abandon the children that Yuan's "lady mother" runs a home for?

4. When he's in the countryside, what does Yuan decide to do after he receives news about his father?

5. Why does Ai-lan dance with people she doesn't want to dance with?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is danger for the revolutionaries foreshadowed when Yuan, Ai-lan, and the lady mother are on the way to meet Yuan's uncle?

2. How do the villagers respond to Yuan leaving the countryside?

3. What does Yuan do while he is in the countryside?

4. Why does Yuan sometimes make his homeland seem more perfect than it is?

5. What reason does Yuan's teacher give for Yuan not being able to give the meaning of his own poem?

6. What does Yuan think of the women at the pleasure houses?

7. What is the one thing that does not cut off Yuan from the poor around him?

8. What first gives Yuan the courage to stand up against his father about the arranged marriage?

9. What finally pushes Yuan to join the cause?

10. What reason does Yuan give for not being able to join the revolutionaries?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the ways in which Yuan is like Wang the Tiger. How is this shown in his behavior towards others, especially women? How is this shown in the way he views tradition versus revolution? Cite at least three examples from the novel to support your case.

Essay Topic 2

Yuan joins the cause believing that it will help give him freedom, especially from his father's control. How does Yuan discover that the cause actually means less freedom? What is Yuan's reaction? Cite at least three specific examples from the novel.

Essay Topic 3

The ending of A House Divided is an ambiguous one. Explain why. What purpose does an ambiguous ending serve? Why might the author decide to use this type of ending? What effect does it have on the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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