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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. Why is Yuan careful about what he tells his new friend Jim?

2. Instead of joining the protests and other revolutionist activities, what does Yuan do?

3. What does the letter Yuan receives from his father say?

4. At what point does Yuan begin looking at women differently?

5. What does Ai-lan say she will teach Yuan to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reason does Yuan give for not being able to join the revolutionaries?

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

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. Why does Yuan have reservations about joining the revolutionary cause?

6. What is the one thing that does not cut off Yuan from the poor around him?

7. What does Yuan do when he sees the poor people outside the pleasure house? What does he think of the poor?

8. How do the villagers respond to Yuan leaving the countryside?

9. Why do Sheng and Yuan separate once they arrive in America?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The number three is significant in several ways, one being that there are three stages in Yuan's life. Describe these three stages and how they compare and contrast. These stages of life are represented by the three different chapters. Explain how this is significant.

Essay Topic 2

The ending of A House Divided is an ambiguous one. Explain why. What purpose does an ambiguous ending serve? Why might the author decide to use this type of ending? What effect does it have on the reader?

Essay Topic 3

What are the benefits to the third-person omniscient point of view? What are the disadvantages to this point of view? What if another point of view were used to tell the story? How would the story change? How would it stay the same? What would be the best point of view to use if not third-person omniscient?

(see the answer keys)

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