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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 a plant smell like that Mei picks when she walks with Secretary Sun in Chapter 9?

2. How do Mei and the other girls get to their classrooms?

3. Where does the Mei work in the Prologue?

4. How old was Teacher Fan when she came to the capital?

5. In Chapter 6, what does the Chairman's wife wear to the play?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mei feel when she wears her first pair of high-heeled shoes in Chapter 3?

2. Why is writing with brush and ink difficult for Mei in Chapter 9?

3. What does Mei learn about the daughter of the Chairman and Madame?

4. In Chapter 13, why does Mei wants to see her parents?

5. What does the dance troupe perform and where?

6. When does the Chairman die, and how do the people of Chinatown in San Francisco respond?

7. What happens to those who leave the troupe?

8. How are lies born in Chinatown?

9. In Chapter 7, what is to be Mei's job?

10. How does Teacher Fan explain the importance of the girls in the dance troupe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mei matures and changes in Forbidden City. Is her story a Bildungsroman or a coming-of-age story?

Essay Topic 2

A simile is a figure of speech that is used to make comparisons between things. How does the use of similes help readers comprehend concepts? How does the use of similes help readers make the writing more interesting? What purpose do similes serve in Forbidden City?

Essay Topic 3

The Chairman’s care is entrusted to Mei when he gets sick in Chapter 15. What does it mean that the Chairman trusted Mei “enough to show his throat to [her]” (184)?

(see the answer keys)

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