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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. What does Leila grab in order to try to establish Leon's identity for the benefits he can receive?

2. What is NOT a part of Leon's story of how he came to America 50 years before?

3. Leila and Mason fly into _________ as Nina returns from a tour of the Yangtze River area.

4. What has Mah stacked in a pagoda pattern on top of the television for Leon's arrival?

5. Where does Leila get married which causes all of the local gossips to begin to talk about her?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Leon tend to keep old things, even if they are not useful anymore?

2. What is Zeke so excited about when he pulls up in the white Mercedes where Mason works?

3. Why did Nina decide to quit her past job as a flight attendant, according to the story?

4. What are some of the reasons why Leila's shoulders are tense, according to this chapter?

5. What does Leon ask Mason to do after Leon has taken two buses to get to Jorge's parking lot?

6. Why does Leon let Leila take him to him to sign up for Social Security at the start of this chapter?

7. Why is Mason in a bad mood when he and Leila go to pick up Leon in Vallejo?

8. What is the site of where Ona decided to take her life by jumping from the building?

9. Why might other families in San Francisco's Chinatown think Leon's family is unlucky?

10. What is the one thing that Leon can not document when he is at the Social Security office because he has had so many aliases?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The guilt surrounding Ona's death seems to be ripping the family apart within this story.

Part 1: Why do you think that Leon feels guilty about the death of Ona? Should he?

Part 2: Why do you think that Leila feels guilty about Ona's death? Should she?

Part 3: Do you think there is any reason for the family to feel guilty about Ona's death? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

While the characters are struggling to find their own identities, it seems that many secrets are being held which are only making it more difficult to keep the family together.

Part 1: Why do you think Leila finds it so difficult to tell others about her elopement?

Part 2: Why do you think the characters in this story feel they need to keep secrets from each other?

Part 3: How is the Chinese culture supporting the keeping of secrets within families and from the outside world?

Essay Topic 3

The language barrier in the story is one of the significant roadblocks to some of the characters being able to participate in some processes of their life.

Part 1: Why do you think certain characters don't make more of an effort to learn English?

Part 2: Do you think it's fair to expect those from another culture to adapt to their new home's language? Why or why not?

Part 3: In what ways does the lack of language skill cause certain characters to suffer? How does knowing English help some characters thrive?

(see the answer keys)

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