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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. On page 93, to whom does the protagonist deliver the line "You move slow, like a turtle"?

2. How do the protagonist's friends and neighbors react when he appears in the kitchen of the Golden Palace?

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

4. In the flashback in In "ACT II: INT. GOLDEN PALACE," what does the protagonist's mother make him promise?

5. In what way does the Old Asian Man break character?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the context of the "Wong guy" pun and how the actors react to it in "ACT II: INT. GOLDEN PALACE."

2. How does the text describe Bruce Lee?

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

4. 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?

5. Explain what thematic ideas are communicated in the description from page 37, "BLACK AND WHITE. Two cops, one of each race....they drive around in a black-and-white police car, even through they're detectives."

6. Describe the interior of the Golden Palace.

7. When Green and Turner do not offer Mini Boss the deal that he wants, how does he escape?

8. What is the paradox that periodically sends the residents of the Chinatown SRO Apartments over the edge into an all-night party?

9. When the protagonist finally steps into the spotlight, what is his first line, and what does it signify?

10. Explain the central conceit of the section in which the protagonist visits and cares for his father despite his father seeming not to recognize him.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you analyze how the novel develops the idea of Asian-Americans as a "marginalized" population. Stereotypes are not the focus, here--you are focusing on the idea of people being pushed out of the center of power and becoming spectators rather than actors in the larger story of America. Be sure to support your ideas with evidence from the text and to cite any outside references in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Interior Chinatown makes a claim that Asian-American immigrants are in a perpetual kind of limbo, always outsiders in America. Write an essay in which you evaluate the novel's claim that Asian-Americans can never really "arrive" in America against objective studies of the extent to which Asian-Americans have been assimilated into mainstream American culture. Remember that anecdotal, personal, and subjective measures are not being called for, here--your evidence should be drawn from a variety of data-rich and well-designed studies. Be sure to use evidence from both Yu's text and from outside sources, and cite all sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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