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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. When did the Trung sisters throw themselves into a river and drown?

2. In Chapter 11, what color is Mr. Cohen’s beard?

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

4. In Chapter 13, how old were the narrator and Thuy when they last ran in the white foam of the breakers on the beach?

5. In Chapter 13 when the narrator visits Thuy in the hospital, what color are Thuy’s nails painted?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the narrator escape Vietnam?

2. What did the major decide had happened to him when he got back into his car in Chapter 10?

3. What does the narrator discover in Chapter 13 when she prepared Thuy’s body?

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

5. To whom is the narrator speaking in Chapter 8 and why?

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

7. In Chapter 8, why didn’t the narrator marry Bao?

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

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

10. Why are iguanas popular in Puerto Vallarta?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 7, the narrator admits that he is a wimpy man. Why is the narrator a wimp? How does his lack of physical presence affect his marriage? What does he do that enhances his status with his wife? How does that affect his relationship with his wife?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 14, the parasail is a symbol of returning to earth, to reality. In what way have Gabrielle and Vinh lost touch with reality? How has it affected their relationship? How has their vacation opened their eyes to the knowledge that they need to return to earth? How does the parasail symbolize that return.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 10, the narrator makes the comment that Miss Linh has eaten him up. What does the narrator mean by that statement? How many times did Miss Linh help him escape trouble? Was he escaping trouble the last time that he saw her? Why is he still haunted by her?

(see the answer keys)

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