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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. How does the child respond to the woman's gift in "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry"?

2. What color is the window frame in the final scene of "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry"?

3. How is the motion of film described in "Elitere: Lyric Poetry"?

4. What is the first action of the woman in "Thalia: Comedy"?

5. To whom is Sister Theresa betrothed in "Erato: Love Poetry"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Discuss the passage titled "Memory." Why does it receive a capitalized title?

3. Examine the camera directions which describe the woman's experience in the cinema in "Erato: Love Poetry."

4. What is the significance of the series of concentric circles in "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry"?

5. Discuss the narrator's treatment of memory in "Elitere: Lyric Poetry."

6. Describe the contents of the chart in "Polymnia: Sacred Poetry."

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

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

9. Discuss the ending of the work. Why does it end with a child looking out a window?

10. Discuss the opening lines of "Terpischore: Choral Dance." What is the general impression you gain from these lines? ("You remain dismembered...apart from the congregation.")

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Family plays a significant role in Cha's Dictee. Describe the way family members are linked throughout the work, then address the following questions. How does Cha treat family in this work? What role to family relations play in the narrator's decisions? How does the narrator perceive family? What does Cha's commentary about family appear to be?

Essay Topic 2

Much of Cha's text deals with the experience of being a Korean-American woman in the period following the Korean War. How does she treat this experience? How does she comment on her place and/or reception within U.S. American culture? Is she nostalgic for Korea? Proud to be an American? Both? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Cha makes repeated allusions to the intervention of various outside forces in the politics and lives of the Korean people. Discuss Cha's commentary on imperialism and neo-imperialist policies. Does she seem to support international intervention in the so-called civil war in Korea? Does she wish assistance had arrived sooner? In Cha's work, how does the international involvement in the Korean War conflict compare to the Japanese occupation during and after World War II?

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