View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is not something Sao does at his mother's grave?

2. What reason do the white miners give for the decision to drive out the China Men?

3. How is brother, returning from Vietnam, greeted when he walks from the bus station to his parents' home in Stockton?

4. What word best describes the meaning of Ch'u Yuan's name?

5. The author of "The Li Sao" is

Short Essay Questions

1. Retell the Filipino scholar's story about the Chinese first coming to the Philippines in search of gold. Be sure to include only the information that the scholar provides. Don't be distracted by the party-goers' interruptions.

2. Summarize Kingston's childhood account of seeing a "Wild Man" every day when she and her sister walked to school.

3. What evidence in "The Wild Man of the Green Swamp" is there that shows the Wild Man's ingenuity?

4. Explain why the people that meet Li Sao realize too late that he is the last righteous human being. What do the people do to get Li Sao to return to Earth? What are the results of the people's attempts?

5. What is the significance of Kingston's modern Auntie's marriage to I Fu?

6. Explain the irony of the mandarins requesting more ships in the story the Filipino scholar tells in "On Listening."

7. At the end of the story about Kau and Great Aunt, Kingston writes that the Great Aunt's return to Red China is a clue that the country of their heritage is not as bad as the stories imply. What does this reveal to the reader about the narrator and her understanding of Communist China?

8. What is the significance of the last line in "The Hundred-Year-Old Man"?

9. What does Kingston mean at the end of "Alaska China Men" when she writes, ". . . perhaps any China Man was China Joe"?

10. Create a dictionary using words from the chapter, "The Li Sao: An Elegy." Choose words that readers will need to have knowledge of in order to understand the story. Create a display using words that fit the theme of the folktale, such as phoenix, mourned, epic, elegy, lament, sorrow, estrangement, incorruptible, entwined, requiem, warmongers, etc.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Re-read the first two pages of Chapter 5, "The Great Grandfather of the Sandalwood Mountains." Summarize what happens when Kingston sends a distant cousin money for a bike. Kingston shows uncertainty regarding her decision not to send more money. Describe her reasons for the precaution she takes not to place her family in China any troubles.

Use this summary as a springboard to a longer essay regarding why Sojourners were expected to send money home to their Chinese wives and families. Why was this practice necessary? Does it stop at anytime during the time covered in Kingston's novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how the tone and mood that Kingston creates in her writing change from when she first addresses her Father in chapter three, "Father from China" and when she speaks of him in Chapter 14, "The American Father." Describe Kingston's attitude toward her father in Chapter three. Tell when you think Kingston changes her attitude toward him. Use quotes from the text to support your conclusions about Kingston's attitude toward her Father.

Essay Topic 3

Tell about the evolution of Kingston's Chinese family from one that practices solely Chinese customs to one practicing Americanized customs. For example, how many generations pass before Kingston's family evolves from adhering to arranged marriages to its first self-selected marriage. Discuss the reluctance of Kingston's Mother to let go of her Chinese traditions or superstitions. Describe the condition of the Chinese American in California with family still living in China.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,625 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample