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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 is Ch'u Yuan looking for as he seeks another like him in the world?

2. How much time passes between the first and the second Driving Out in "Alaska China Men"?

3. What does the Hundred-Year-Old Man say he carried with him from China to Hawai'i?

4. Why is Kingston confused about the story of the gold needle in a mountain in the Philippines?

5. What does Kingston hear from her schoolmates that makes her long to be normal?

Short Essay Questions

1. Compare and contrast Uncle Bun's beliefs about the benefits of communism and his dreams of a Communist World and Father's political beliefs.

2. What does Lo Bun Sun's constant work and preparation suggest about his character?

3. Explain the irony of the mandarins requesting more ships in the story the Filipino scholar tells in "On Listening."

4. At the end of the story about Kau and Great Aunt, Kingston writes that the Great Aunt's return to Red China is a clue that the country of their heritage is not as bad as the stories imply. What does this reveal to the reader about the narrator and her understanding of Communist China?

5. What happens to Father after the Gambling House is closed permanently? How does Father recover?

6. Compare the Alaskan Driving Out with the California Driving Out of China Men.

7. How does Kingston give the reader information about the Communist Revolution and the later wars? Include details about her brother's experience in the Navy as a pacifist.

8. Summarize Kingston's childhood account of seeing a "Wild Man" every day when she and her sister walked to school.

9. Create a dictionary using words from the chapter, "The Li Sao: An Elegy." Choose words that readers will need to have knowledge of in order to understand the story. Create a display using words that fit the theme of the folktale, such as phoenix, mourned, epic, elegy, lament, sorrow, estrangement, incorruptible, entwined, requiem, warmongers, etc.

10. Describe the experience of the AJA's (Americans of Japanese Ancestry) during World War II, using only details from Kingston's retelling of her memories and the stories she heard as a child.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a book review of Maxine Hong Kingston's novel China Men. Briefly summarize the plot line in the story, and then describe Kingston's approach to the subject as an author. Finally, tell whether you would recommend this book to someone else. Explain your recommendation to your reader.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the context in which Kingston addresses immortality in China Men. Do the Chinese men in China associate the Gold Mountain with immortality? Explain your answer in detail, citing quotes from specific chapters in China Men. Use other sources to find examples of man's search for or dream of achieving immortality. Are they consistent with Kingston's references in China Men?

Essay Topic 3

Identify times in Kingston's novel, China Men, when a character's expectations about Gold Mountain are not met. Compare and contrast characters' expectations with the reality they experience in America. Consider the plight of the Sojourners. Why do so many return to China? Why do some stay in America, leaving their families behind in a hostile China?

(see the answer keys)

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