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

2. To what does Kingston refer with the metaphor "the living night"?

3. What kind of poem does Ch'u Yuan write before he drowns?

4. What are the contents of the Wild Man's bag which is made from a pair of pants?

5. What does the blind fortune teller predict will happen to Kingston's San Francisco Aunt over her lifetime?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Kingston mean at the end of "Alaska China Men" when she writes, ". . . perhaps any China Man was China Joe"?

3. 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?

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

5. 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.

6. 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?

7. Describe the relationship between Lo Bun Sun and Sing Kay Ng.

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. What evidence in "The Wild Man of the Green Swamp" is there that shows the Wild Man's ingenuity?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the stories of Kingston's two relatives who helped build up the places they went outside of China. The Great Grandfather of Sandalwood Mountain" and "The Grandfather of the Sierra Nevada Mountains." Describe the similarities among the China men's two experiences, one in Hawaii and the other in America's Western states. Then describe the differences in the two men's experiences. What kinds of things contribute to the differences between the stories?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how the tone and mood that Kingston creates in her writing change from when she first addresses her Father in chapter three, "Father from China" and when she speaks of him in Chapter 14, "The American Father." Describe Kingston's attitude toward her father in Chapter three. Tell when you think Kingston changes her attitude toward him. Use quotes from the text to support your conclusions about Kingston's attitude toward her Father.

Essay Topic 3

Explain how Kingston's Father is different from his brothers. Describe the causes and effects of several events which occurred during Father's life. How did Father's position of favoritism by his mother and repugnance by his father ultimately affect Kingston's Father? Support your conclusions with details from the text or with personal experiences.

(see the answer keys)

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