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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. How long did martial law last under Chiang Kai-shek?

2. What is the setting where Karen and Phoebe are living called in the script?

3. What does Ming-Chen Wu's father try to save from their burning house?

4. What did the judge rule in People v. Hall?

5. When the police show up to take the protagonist, what does he reveal?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the real struggle that the protagonist is undergoing as he tries to tell Phoebe a story?

2. What are the main points that the protagonist makes in his monologue?

3. What thematic purpose does it serve to focus on the attractiveness of the prosecutor and witnesses and to include indicators of sexual tension in the courtroom?

4. In what ways does "ACT V: KUNG FU DAD" show that Phoebe's innocence and youth are protective?

5. What is the double-meaning of "learning time" in "ACT V: KUNG FU DAD"?

6. Why does the protagonist react badly both to the news about the baby and the later news about Karen's new show?

7. In what ways does Karen influence the protagonist to develop emotionally?

8. What does the protagonist see as the benefits and drawbacks of the place where his daughter is growing up?

9. Explain the literal and nonliteral meanings of the world inside Phoebe's closet.

10. On page 188, the script notes that Karen and Phoebe's show is "a cartoon. Sort of." In what sense is this both literally and figuratively true?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Interior Chinatown makes a claim that Asian-American immigrants are in a perpetual kind of limbo, always outsiders in America. Write an essay in which you evaluate the novel's claim that Asian-Americans can never really "arrive" in America against objective studies of the extent to which Asian-Americans have been assimilated into mainstream American culture. Remember that anecdotal, personal, and subjective measures are not being called for, here--your evidence should be drawn from a variety of data-rich and well-designed studies. Be sure to use evidence from both Yu's text and from outside sources, and cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you analyze how the novel develops the idea of Asian-Americans as a "marginalized" population. Stereotypes are not the focus, here--you are focusing on the idea of people being pushed out of the center of power and becoming spectators rather than actors in the larger story of America. Be sure to support your ideas with evidence from the text and to cite any outside references in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you consider Chinatown--both the Chinatown of the novel and real-world Chinatowns--as simulacra. Use evidence from the novel and from outside sources to evaluate how these various "Chinatowns" function as simulated replacements for reality. Be sure to cite your sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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