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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. Who does Yuan find himself holding hands with after they ask him to join the revolutionaries' cause?

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

3. What is Yuan still searching for?

4. Who is Ai-lan?

5. How does Yuan feel after thinking about the maid when he should be sleeping?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. In Chapter 1, why does Yuan feel trapped?

5. How does Yuan feel when he is told that his father has arranged a marriage for him?

6. After he finds out his father is sick, why do the guards accompany Yuan back to his father's home?

7. What reason does Yuan's teacher give for Yuan not being able to give the meaning of his own poem?

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

9. Why does Yuan sometimes make his homeland seem more perfect than it is?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Yuan is often caught between two extremes and has trouble choosing one wholeheartedly. Give three pairs of extremes that Yuan must choose between. What does he finally choose? Why? What causes Yuan from picking one extreme over another?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

How does China transform while Yuan is in America? Compare the three Chinas that Yuan experiences: the China before he leaves to America, the China he tells people about in America, and the China Yuan returns to. Cite at least three examples from the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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