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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. When does Mother take the train home?

2. On what day did Guan Soon lead a revolutionary protest?

3. On what date does the narrator write her mother from Seoul?

4. What type of illustrations appear in the "Urania: Astronomy"?

5. What did Japan do as it assumed control over Korea?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the break down in the translation exercise in the opening, particularly beginning with exercise number 5 in the second set of translations. Why does the grammar, tone, and voice shift?

2. Where does Mother teach?

3. Discuss the significance of the image at the end of "Clio: History."

4. What is Mother's MAH-UHM? Where is it trapped?

5. Why does Cha include images of the circulatory system, the nervous system, and the respiratory system in in "Urania: Astronomy," a section dedicated to astronomy?

6. Describe the process Mother undergoes to become an American citizen.

7. Describe Mother's ideas about what people do just before death.

8. Although the text is written in English, many of the forms and structures Cha uses do not adhere to standards of American English. Some of the translation passages, in particular, seem to have a structure that evinces first-language influence. Do you think the translation passages were originally written in English? Why or why not?

9. Explain the letter to Mother in "Melpomene: Tragedy."

10. What is happening in the opening passage of "Melpomene: Tragedy"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In addition to the motif of suffering, the work exhibits a recurrent theme of transcendence as well. Cha's mother overcomes her exile status and poor health in Manchuria, saintly and Christ-like figures transcend worldly suffering, and the narrator transcends the painful distances between herself and the other women who compose her identity. How does Cha treat transcendence in this work? Is it a happily-ever-after, feel-good ending to a painful experience? Or perhaps it is a testament to the triumph of the human spirit? Is there a religious or spiritual component to her message? Using support from the text, discuss Cha's message regarding transcendence of suffering.

Essay Topic 2

Throughout Dictee, Cha experiments with notions of time; she comments on concepts of time ranging from systems of calendar dating to experiential time. Discuss the role of time in Cha's work. How does she manipulate language to convey different experiences of time? Why does she incorporate so many methods of marking or experiencing time? How does incorporating these differing experience of time work contribute to the overall project of the work?

Essay Topic 3

Select and analyze one of the dominant image strands in the work. How does the recurring image function within the context of the work? What associations does it form for the reader? How does it add meaning to the text? In selecting your image, think for instance of the light and dark imagery that runs throughout or the body imagery that appears in many sections of the work.

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