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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. Who turns out to be the actual "missing Asian"?

2. On page 233, who tells the protagonist "Your oppression is second-class"?

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

4. How many children were in Dorothy Wu's family?

5. Watching Phoebe playing in ACT V: KUNG FU DAD," what does the protagonist suddenly remember?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. When the police come for the protagonist, where does Karen say he is going, and what evidence is there that she does not really understand the protagonist's plan?

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

5. In what ways does Karen influence the protagonist to develop emotionally?

6. Explain the literal and nonliteral meanings of the world inside Phoebe's closet.

7. What is the real struggle that the protagonist is undergoing as he tries to tell Phoebe a story?

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

9. What is the rhetorical purpose of the list of anti-Asian laws that begins "ACT VI: THE CASE OF THE MISSING ASIAN"?

10. What are the main points that the protagonist makes in his monologue?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you weigh the relative impacts that self-stereotyping and stereotyping by others have on the protagonist of Interior Chinatown. Does he have beliefs about himself or other Asian Americans that are derived from stereotypes rather than from individual personality and abilities? Think about the conflicts he faces, the choices he makes, and his beliefs about himself as you create and defend an argument about how much weight each form of stereotyping has on him. Be sure to use textual evidence to support your claims.

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

Do some research on the terms "late capitalism" and "commodification" as they relate to postmodernism. When you have a strong understanding of these terms, write a thesis-driven essay that applies them to Yu's Interior Chinatown. Be sure to support your ideas with evidence from the text and to cite any outside references in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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