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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. Chochinchina is today known as what country?

2. Who in the novel is both physically and mentally abusive?

3. About how old is the older brother when the mother dies?

4. Later in her life, whose photograph does the narrator see that reminds her of herself as the young woman on the ferry?

5. Where does most of the mother's income go?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Who is the Lady from Savana Khet and why is her story put in segment 15?

3. Why does the narrator find the lover uncovered in front of her family?

4. Describe the older brother's behavior toward the lover.

5. The narrator describes both the lover's body and her own in unique ways at the very beginning of their relationship. Explain how.

6. Why does the narrator believe that she is able to become anything anyone wants her to be? What does this mean?

7. What happens to the family's wealth after the father's death?

8. How does the lover feel about the narrator at the end of the relationship?

9. Why does the mother consider writing, in regards to a career for the narrator, to be unconscionable?

10. Is the narrator in control of the relationship with the lover, through its beginning to the end?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At a point in the novel, the narrator compares her love for the lover to water hidden in sand. What does the narrator mean by this? When does the narrator realize she loved the lover? How does that come about?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the character of Hélène Lagonelle and the relationship between her and the narrator. How does that relationship develop and change throughout the novel? Provide examples.

Essay Topic 3

The narrator tells a few stories in the novel that seemingly have nothing to do with the plot or her life story. However, these stories can be seen to parallel the narrator's own story. What are these stories or instances that the narrator relates to the reader? Summarize them and explain why or how they are used as metaphors for the narrator's life. Why does the narrator choose to use these comparisons?

(see the answer keys)

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