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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 won't Hideyo throw away the old Korean clothes?

2. What experience does Yoko have in the train station while waiting for Ko to return from school that makes her suddenly feel grown up?

3. What is their first meal in the homeland?

4. Why does Hideyo consider the moon "unsympathetic"?

5. In addition to Japanese, who are the Korean Communists killing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hideyo not want to part with the clothes he gtes from the Lees?

2. Why do you think Hideyo is so attached to Yoko's fur coat?

3. Describe Yoko's friendship with Mr. Naido.

4. How do Yoko and Ko carry out the Japanese death ritual and show respect for mother?

5. In order to survive for as long as Hideyo has in the conditions he has endured, what character traits do you think he possesses?

6. Why do you think Yoko ponders that "it was strange that we did not think more of father, whom we loved dearly" instead of Hideyo?

7. Why does Yoko find it hard to believe that the corporal has found her and Ko?

8. Why do you think that mother insists that Yoko and Ko continue their education?

9. At this point in the story, what defines "normal" for Yoko and Ko?

10. Why do you think Yoko titled her essay, "Understanding?"

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Despite all that Yoko endures, how is she able to maintain her identity throughout the book? What obstacles does she encounter? How does she overcome them?

Essay Topic 2

How do the main characters deal with the tragedies and atrocities inherently related to war?

Essay Topic 3

Aside from physically being so far from the bamboo grove, how are Yoko and her family symbolically so far from it? In other words, what does the bamboo grove symbolize for them?

(see the answer keys)

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