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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. How does Yuan show a lack of courtesy towards the old tenants, besides inviting himself into their home?

2. What is the occupation of Yuan's father?

3. What does Ai-lan's mother want Yuan to do?

4. Which of the following is a common theme throughout the first part of the book?

5. What does Ai-lan point out about Yuan?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Yuan so proud to call Ai-lan's mother his own mother?

2. When Yuan watches Wang the Tiger warm his hands by the fire and sees how frail he looks, how does he feel about him?

3. Why does Yuan go to the coastal city to see his sister and her mother?

4. What does the letter from Yuan's father in Chapter 1 say, and what is Yuan's reaction to it?

5. What first gives Yuan the courage to stand up against his father about the arranged marriage?

6. Why does Yuan seem to despise the American people?

7. How is danger for the revolutionaries foreshadowed when Yuan, Ai-lan, and the lady mother are on the way to meet Yuan's uncle?

8. How does Sheng represent tradition? How does Meng represent revolution?

9. How does Yuan try to run away from himself?

10. What is Yuan's reaction to his reflection in the mirror when he first tries on city clothes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is freedom elusive to Yuan? How does Yuan constantly search for freedom but fail to find it? Cite at least examples from the novel to prove the argument.

Essay Topic 2

Describe how Sheng is symbolic of tradition and Meng is symbolic of revolution. Cite at least five specific examples. Also explain how three other characters are symbolic of either revolution or tradition.

Essay Topic 3

How does Pearl S. Buck use foreshadowing to tell the reader what might happen in the future? What are three elements of foreshadowing cited from the novel? What did these events foreshadow in the future? What effect does foreshadowing have on the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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