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1. In the opening of the novel, how does the narrator appear?

The novel opens around 1983 and the narrator appears old with what others call a "ravaged" face. Her face became ravaged between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, when she aged quite rapidly.

2. What structural functions does the opening segment of the novel perform?

The opening segment of the novel introduces the narrator and the primary characters. It sets the scene of the novel and gives the reader an initial time line of events. The segment illustrates briefly the personalities of the narrator's family, and it gives the reader a sense of what the rest of the novel will be about.

3. Briefly describe the life of the narrator around the time she is fifteen.

The narrator and her family live in French Indochina or Chochinchina. Her family lives in Sadec, but she lives in Saigon and attends a boarding school where she is one of the few Caucasian students. Her family is poor, but they are still of an upper class as they are French Caucasians.

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