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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. For whom do the Juneau citizens hold the largest funeral Alaska ever sees?

2. What two goals does Father finally reach by the end of "The American Father"?

3. What does Lo Bun Sun call the two shelters he builds on the island?

4. What kind of business does Father buy?

5. What personal theory does Kingston recall testing when she was child?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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.

2. Describe the relationship between Father and the owner of the Gambling House.

3. What is the significance of the last line in "The Hundred-Year-Old Man"?

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

5. Explain why the people that meet Li Sao realize too late that he is the last righteous human being. What do the people do to get Li Sao to return to Earth? What are the results of the people's attempts?

6. Why does the author suggest that instead of the Driving Out in Alaska taking place twice that it could be the same story but with the dates mixed up?

7. Compare and contrast grandfather Ah Goong's experiences during the Driving Out with those that took place in Alaska according to Kingston's narrative.

8. 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.

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Identify the folktales Kingston uses throughout China Men. For each one, describe how it is used to move along the plot in Kingston's novel. Study the Table of Contents to see where and how often the alternative genre is used. Do the tales foreshadow upcoming events? Do the fantasy stories serve to illustrate key points the author is trying to convey? Display your responses in a creative way that connects the ideas and patterns you discovered.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, Kingston makes reference to the different cultures living within China, including the Cantonese, the Han, and later the Mandarin. Explain the references that the author makes to each ethnicity and provide the context in which she is describing it. Which one is Kingston? How do you know?

(see the answer keys)

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