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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Hyeonseo heard the news that some local young women had been caught listening to South Korean pop music, what was their allocated punishment?
(a) They are exiled from North Korea.
(b) They are sentenced to a prison camp.
(c) They are forced to move to a different county.
(d) They are executed.

2. In what season did Hyeonseo and her family move to the riverfront house in Hyesan?
(a) Winter.
(b) Summer.
(c) Spring.
(d) Autumn.

3. What unconventional and technically illegal hairstyle did Hyeonseo wear while attending school in Hyesan?
(a) A fringe.
(b) A perm.
(c) A mohawk.
(d) A bob.

4. Hyeonseo says that after a young woman does what in North Korean society, it can be hard for her to find a marriage match?
(a) Dates.
(b) Gets divorced.
(c) Turns eighteen.
(d) Becomes sexually active.

5. What was the true cause of Hyeonseo's father's death?
(a) A fractured skull.
(b) A bruised spleen.
(c) Influenza.
(d) Suicide.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the one luxury Hyeonseo says her family bought after moving into their riverfront home in Hyesan?

2. What does Hyeonseo say is the only "permitted outlet for spiritual fervor" (41) in North Korea?

3. What location in Hyesan did Hyeonseo name as a "common site for public executions" (73)?

4. On what condition had Hyeonseo's grandparents agreed to allow their son to marry Hyeonseo's mother?

5. What was the title of Hyeonseo's favorite song and is also the title of Chapter 10 of her memoir?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the theme of appearance versus reality demonstrated within the description of Hyeonseo's mother's behavior once her husband has been detained for ten days?

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

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

4. Where is Hyeonseo's family's new house in Hyesan located after they move back from Anju?

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

6. What is ironic about the North Korean government's use of the term "people's trial" (27)?

7. How is Hyeonseo's mother's devotion to Hyeonseo's father demonstrated in the scene when Hyeonseo's father does not return on time from his business trip to China?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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