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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 do the traditional Chinese stories, like those told by Maxine's mother, teach Chinese girls they can be?

2. What is the main reason Maxine's mother likes to tell stores?

3. What does Maxine say about the separation between China and America?

4. What do the people she meets show the girl to convince her to stay?

5. What type of grades does Maxine get in school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is one secret the narrator learns when she reads her sixth grade school file?

2. How does Moon Orchid die?

3. Explain how the girl in the white tigers fantasy story meets the old couple who train her.

4. Describe a common practice the narrator mentions that is used to kill baby girls after birth in China.

5. Why are the Chinese afraid of the ghosts of people who died in the manner of the narrator's aunt?

6. In "White Tigers," for what purpose do the woman and her husband have a one-month ceremony?

7. According to the narrator, does the narrator's aunt ever say who impregnated her?

8. In "White Tigers," describe the return of the girl, now a young woman, to her village.

9. What does speaking American feminine mean to the narrator?

10. How does the narrator feel when she understands that her family will not return to China? Why does she feel this way?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, the narrator comes into conflict with many different characters. Choose two of these conflicts and describe them in detail, answering the following questions:

1) With whom does the narrator have the conflict?

2) What is the conflict about?

3) How is the conflict resolved?

4) What does the narrator learn from the conflict/how does it relate to her story as a whole?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the novel, the narrator and her mother have dynamic interactions with one another and an intense relationship. Use the following questions as a guide to craft an essay that describes the narrator's relationship with her mother throughout the novel. Your essay should have a thesis statement describing their relationship. Use the guiding questions to help craft support for your thesis.

Part 1) Compare and contrast the narrator and her mother. Note their similarities and differences, and give examples to support your claims.

Part 2) Choose one way in which the narrator's mother strongly influences the narrator in the novel. Describe the influence, give at least one example of it and explain how it affects the narrator.

Part 3) With whom do you sympathize while reading the novel, the narrator or her mother? Explain and support your choice.

Essay Topic 3

In "Shaman," the narrator's mother goes to medical school. Use these questions as a guide to describe her experience there. Your essay should include a thesis statement that explains how medical school affected the narrator's mother's life path. Use the guiding questions to help craft your thesis support.

1) Who are the "new women" the narrator's mother meets? How does she view them?

2) How does the narrator's mother change after going to medical school? What does she learn there?

3) How is the narrator's mother treated when she returns from medical school? Why is she treated in this way?

(see the answer keys)

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