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. Hyeonseo says that she has learned that people can do without almost anything, but they cannot do without what?

2. What was NOT a characteristic of the special class Hyeonseo began taking when she was 15?

3. Why does Hyeonseo's mother carry a candle to the door when meeting Hyeonseo's future father and her future husband for the second time?

4. What is NOT a quality named by Hyeonseo in her list of beliefs North Koreans held about The Great Leader before his death?

5. Attendance at what event is mandatory for children from the time they enter North Korean elementary school?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Hyeonseo feel about her forced participation in the Socialist Youth League?

2. What does Hyeonseo mean when she tells the reader, "We were now living in a sensitive area, politically," in relation to the family's home in Hyesan (59)?

3. What are the two types of prison in the gulag?

4. What do the hills surrounding the city of Anju symbolize within the text?

5. What does the family's color television symbolize within the narrative?

6. What major rite of passage within North Korea's culture does Hyeonseo undergo when she is 14 years old?

7. How does Hyeonseo interpret the fortune-teller's announcement that Hyeonseo will have "a future connected with music" and will "eat foreign rice" (43)?

8. What does the author say is the reason that "kindness toward strangers is rare in North Korea" (38)?

9. What is shown about Hyeonseo's maternal grandmother's character within the description of her reaction to Hyeonseo's mother's divorce and child borne of the marriage?

10. What beliefs about Chinese people does Hyeonseo say are taught to every North Korean child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

After her forced separation from her family, Hyeonseo builds many relationships with others that resemble family relationships. Choose three people with whom Hyeonseo builds these familial relationships, describe the circumstances surrounding the bonds she forms with each person, and discuss how these relationships fuel the author's message about the definition of family.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of fear within the memoir The Girl with Seven Names. What is the author telling the reader about the nature of fear, about the harm that fear can inflict, and about the methods people can use to combat fear?

Essay Topic 3

Deception is a theme that shows up often in The Girl with Seven Names, both in relation to the author's use of deceit to elude her would-be captors and in relation to the deceptive techniques employed by the North Korean secret police in their quest to identify traitors. Develop a claim stating the author's message regarding deception and prove your claim with at least three instances of deception within the memoir.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,392 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample