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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 14, what types of flowers grow around the pool at the hotel?

2. What would the sisters have won if they had been able to make the deal before theirs?

3. What nationality is the family that owns the restaurant in Chapter 11?

4. At the beginning of Chapter 11, what time is it?

5. In Puerto Vallarta on what floor of the hotel do Gabrielle and her husband stay?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 10, what did Miss Linh save the narrator from?

2. Why are iguanas popular in Puerto Vallarta?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator in Chapter 7 is accustomed to getting retribution when someone tries to take his wife. Why doesn’t the narrator ever use physical force? How is he able to deal with the problem when he lives in Vietnam? How does he decide to deal with the problem in America? Does the narrator’s lack of physical prowess interfere with his revenge in any way? How does the narrator use his mind to solve the problem of his wife rather than brawn?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 4, Miss Noi shares her love for fairy tales. Why does Miss Noi like fairy tales? Why does she especially like the word “upon” that begins most fairy tales? Is her story told like a fairy tale? Does she believe that her life has been a fairy tale?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 8, the narrator extols marriage as it is in Vietnam. What was different about marriage in Vietnam than in America? How did couples usually meet and marry in Vietnam? What was different about the narrator’s betrothal? Did the narrator think there were advantages to marriage in America as compared to Vietnam?

(see the answer keys)

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