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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 does Hang describe the current landscape?

2. How does Que pay for Chinh's medicine and food?

3. Uncle Chinh is diagnosed with what chronic disease?

4. When Hang returns, who greets her with the announcement of a visitor?

5. Uncle Chinh's wife holds what position?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hang like duckweed flowers so much?

2. How does Que provide for Chinh's medical care?

3. Why does Hang move out of her mother's house?

4. How does Que treat Hang when she returns from the celebration at Aunt Tam's?

5. What is the story Aunt Tam tells about an honest minister?

6. Describe the apartment Uncle Chinh has been staying at.

7. What is Hang's relationship with her male traveling companion?

8. Why does Que and Aunt Tam's relationship become strained?

9. Is Hang's acceptance into university a cause for celebration?

10. What realization does Hang have while staying at her Aunt's house before a celebration for Hang's acceptance into school?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the start of the book, Hang goes to visit her sick uncle, even when she is not feeling well herself, because of a strong sense of familial obligation. At the end of the book, Hang decides to sell her Aunt Tam's house and leave behind "crimes of the past" and an unhappy legacy. Does her decision to sell the house contradict her sense of familial obligation? Has Hang changed over the course of the book? In what ways? Cite specific examples.

Essay Topic 2

Uncle Chinh seems to be up to no good every time we encounter him. Does he have any redeeming qualities? Does he deserve Que's sacrifice? Why does Que, and to a lesser extent, Hang, continue to run to his side? How might this validate or condone his actions?

Essay Topic 3

Hang describes feeling homesick while living in Russia and on the train ride back. However, when she arrives back in Vietnam, she feels the landscape to be oppressive. Define nostalgia/ How can memories trick a person into thinking something that is not true? Is our inability to have perfect recall a positive or negative thing?

(see the answer keys)

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