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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 13, where does the narrator live?

2. In Puerto Vallarta, what colors are painted on the airport building?

3. In Puerto Vallarta where do Gabrielle and her husband stay?

4. In Chapter 13, how did the narrator’s husband die?

5. In Chapter 9 when the narrator remembers stopping to rest, how old does he say his lieutenant was?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 10, what did the major discover when he awoke for a second time?

2. Why does Gabrielle believe a woman at the pool wearing a black two-piece suit won a puzzle-solving show?

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

4. When and where did Thuy and the narrator meet Ly?

5. In Chapter 12, how did the narrator have the courage to leave Vietnam?

6. According to the narrator in Chapter 12, why are the poor spineless?

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

8. What is the memory of fighting that the narrator shares in Chapter 9?

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

10. In Chapter 11, what frightened Miss Giau during her first Christmas in America?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Francine’s father is almost as real as a shadow to her when she lives in Vietnam. What story does Francine tell about a shadow father? Could that represent her relationship with her father? How did the long absence affect their relationship? Did coming to America improve their relationship? Does Francine think their relationship can improve?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

In Chapter 9, the narrator involuntarily leaves Vietnam. Why didn’t the narrator plan to leave Vietnam? What did he leave behind? Why did the lieutenant help the narrator escape? If the narrator hadn’t escaped, would he have been likely to see his son grow up?

(see the answer keys)

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