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 do Older Brother and the protagonist call "Plan B" (231)?

2. What point does Older Brother make about discrimination against Asians in the United States?

3. After Green takes the stand, what objection does Older Brother raise?

4. What jobs are the actors allowed to do during the "cooling off period" after their characters die?

5. What is a "dialectic"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the confusion over who the "missing Asian" is, and what bizarre revelation comes as the confusion is cleared up?

2. How does Dorothy's sister Angela treat her, and what is ironic about Angela's eventual fate?

3. What is the conflict between the protagonist and Karen about how Phoebe is growing up?

4. What happens to Ming-Chen Wu when he finally gets the role of Sifu?

5. In what sense does Older Brother agree that the protagonist is guilty?

6. What does the protagonist see as the benefits and drawbacks of the place where his daughter is growing up?

7. In what ways does "ACT V: KUNG FU DAD" show that Phoebe's innocence and youth are protective?

8. What thematic purpose does it serve to focus on the attractiveness of the prosecutor and witnesses and to include indicators of sexual tension in the courtroom?

9. What is the double-meaning of "learning time" in "ACT V: KUNG FU DAD"?

10. How does Yu set the reader up to feel the maximum impact of the revelation of Phoebe's fifth "fear"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Willis's ambitions are entirely circumscribed by the world of Chinatown. And yet, to go outside of Chinatown to find better opportunities would mean leaving behind a significant part of himself. To what extent does American culture demand that a person give up primary loyalty to their heritage in exchange for success? Does this happen to everyone, or only to those in certain groups? Is there a logical way around this problem, or is it just one of the harsh realities that some people have to face? Write an essay in which you explore how this motif is developed within the novel and then make a claim about how well this represents modern-day America. Be sure to back claims in both sections of your essay with strong evidence and warrants, and remember that anecdotes about individuals are not evidence--evidence about social phenomena comes from studies of groups, not from individual cases. Cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,262 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample