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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 seems to cool the approaching young girl in "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry"?

2. What color light encircles the bowl the woman hands the girl in "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry"?

3. Which foods does the letter from the friend list as among the items Mrs. Claxton's sister will eat?

4. What meteorological event occurs during "Terpischore: Choral Dance"?

5. How does the narrator describe the columns in "Erato: Love Poetry"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the woman's feelings regarding the telephone in "Thalia: Comedy."

2. Why does Cha include the first letter to Mrs. Laura Claxton?

3. Identify one central symbol of "Terpischore: Choral Dance" and discuss its relevance.

4. Discuss at least two possible meanings of the partition imagery which appears in "Elitere: Lyric Poetry."

5. Why does Cha include the second, handwritten, letter to Mrs. Laura Claxton?

6. What does the woman give to the young girl in "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry"?

7. Why is the young girl at the well in "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry"?

8. Describe the image at the opening of "Terpischore: Choral Dance."

9. Compare "memory" with "second memory." How are these passages alike or different?

10. Describe the rhythm of "Terpischore: Choral Dance."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore Cha's commentary on tradition in the work. Tradition is lost, regained, and preserved in the work. How important is tradition to Cha's work? How do the themes of oppression, exile, displacement, and fragmentation affect Cha's vision of tradition? Is her work perhaps an act of preserving tradition in itself? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Religion is a theme that pervades the work in several forms. How does Cha's narrator treat religion? What does Cha have to say about the uses (or perhaps abuses) of religion in Korean and Korean-American culture? Consider the nun's relationship to the Church, as well as the religious rituals and lessons, which appear throughout the work in forming your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Displacement, as it relates to exile and immigrant identity, is a recurring theme throughout this work. Think, for example, about Cha's mother's spirit trapped in Korea or about the narrator's experience in returning to Korea eighteen years after the conflict. How does a sense of displacement inform the identities of the people in the work? Are they marked by it? Are their lives made empty by a sense of yearning? Or do they perceive displacement differently? How?

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