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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. In Chapter 12, how large is the lot on which the narrator’s house is built?

2. How long are Gabrielle and Vinh scheduled to stay in Puerto Vallarta?

3. In Chapter 10, what was the rank of the officer who visited his mistress?

4. In Chapter 8, why can’t the narrator’s mother tell her more about the conversation she should have with her child?

5. In Chapter 10, where did the officer and his mistress spend the afternoon?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the narrator escape Vietnam?

2. How did Gabrielle guess wrongly about which women were on which types of game shows?

3. Why does the narrator in Chapter 9 find it strange that he escaped Vietnam and so many others didn’t?

4. In Chapter 10, what did the woman in the road tell the officer after he crashed and found himself lying on the ground?

5. In Chapter 12, why didn’t the narrator’s family come with him to America?

6. Why are iguanas popular in Puerto Vallarta?

7. As Gabrielle watches a man strapped into a parachute, what does Vinh ask her to remind him?

8. In Chapter 11, why does Mr. Cohen say that Christmas is not his holiday?

9. In Chapter 11, what happened to Miss Giau’s fiancé?

10. How does the narrator in Chapter 8 feel about her baby being a girl and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 5, Thieu’s son is growing up American. What is his son’s name? How does Bill dress? What are Bill’s interests? How does Bill respond when his father speaks Vietnamese? How does Thieu’s attempt to interest Bill in a Vietnamese boyhood tradition succeed? Is Bill more Vietnamese or more American?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 3 as Khanh notices the memory loss of Mr. Chinh, he beings to consider memory. Why does Khanh begin to consider memory after picking up Mr. Chinh from the airport? Why does it become important to Khanh that he remember various things? Why does he think his memory is not perfect? What connection does he make between memory and distraction?

Essay Topic 3

The stories in Chapters 8 and 9 are similar. To whom are the narrators speaking? What myths and stories do the narrators share? How do these myths and stories shape the way that the narrators view life? What have the narrators lost? Do both narrators find something to replace what they lost?

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