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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 are the majority of the protagonist's earliest memories of his mother centered around?

2. After the accident with the hot tea, what visible reminder is there of the protagonist's carelessness?

3. In the narrative present, which role does the protagonist's father play?

4. On page 81 of "ACT III: ETHNIC RECURRING," what piece of Tuner's dialogue does Green critique?

5. What is a reasonable summary of the poem on page 6?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the interior of the Golden Palace.

2. How does the Emperor feel about the commercial he was in, and how does the reader know this?

3. What language does the protagonist speak to his father in the restaurant, and how does it reveal one source of the gap between them?

4. What are some of the details that people should realize mean that Sifu is living in poverty?

5. What do people in Chinatown say about Older Brother, and why does the narrative say that it does not matter?

6. What does the protagonist believe is the reason for the bickering between the two detectives in the opening of "ACT III: ETHNIC RECURRING," and why is he offended?

7. How does the protagonist feel when he sees his father working in the kitchen, and why?

8. Why do the residents of the Chinatown SRO Apartments feel as if they never really leave work?

9. How does Young Fong pack his father's things, and why is this so significant to the protagonist?

10. What does Turner tell the protagonist about the system--about what rising up through it means, and about his own place within it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you explore the text's mixed emotional responses to Older Brother. What emotions does he elicit from Willis's perspective and from the other residents of Chinatown? Which emotions are directly expressed, and which are implied? How would you explain the conflicting responses he generates? Be sure to support your claims with textual evidence.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that explores the impact of poverty on the residents of the Chinatown SRO Apartments. Consider how it impacts their relationships, their interior lives, and their beliefs about America. Support your claims with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you analyze what Interior Chinatown is saying about the "Black and White show" running in America. In what sense is this show allegorical, and what messages is it sending about America's tactics for dealing with race? Be sure to use textual evidence to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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