View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Basie have a collection of in the shipyard?

2. Where does Jim sleep near the river?

3. What film is playing at the Cathay Theater?

4. Who joins Jim at the detention center?

5. What is the name of the British ship anchored near the hotel?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Jim being used by Basie's gang of bandits?

2. Why are the Japanese having their gates and fences reinforced?

3. What does Jim think of his fellow prisoners from other countries?

4. What does Jim tell Frank and Basie about his parents?

5. What is the "shadow film"?

6. What does Jim believe the public execution of the Chinese coolie is intended to prove?

7. Why is Jim so affected by the sight of the dead kamikaze pilot?

8. How does Jim spend his three days back at Lunghua Camp?

9. Describe Jim's ride out of Lunghua.

10. What appears at the gates to Lunghua Camp on Jim's third day back?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Using at least three examples, discuss how Ballard uses planes throughout the story. Do different country's planes mean different things? Does their meaning change?

Essay Topic 2

Which method of survival, Dr. Ransome's or Basie's, is more effective? Defend your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, Jim makes observations about the people of different nationalities; at one point, he compares the British people's apparent disdain for children to the Chinese people's enjoyment of them. Using at least three specific examples, discuss the veracity of Jim's comments.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 893 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample