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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 does Joan do for Thanksgiving?

2. How many hours per day does Joan teach?

3. What is one city Joan's family previously lived in?

4. What is the only decoration in Joan's living room?

5. How does Joan's mother pronounce her name?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Joan seem to think of Reese?

2. How does Joan's father die?

3. What does Joan do when she is given her own office at the hospital?

4. What gestures do Joan and her mother do before Joan leaves her father's funeral?

5. What surprises Joan's colleagues about her when they hear her on the phone?

6. What question does Joan increasingly get from co-workers and friends as she ages?

7. What shocks Mark about Joan in Part II?

8. How does Joan generally get along with her neighbors?

9. What do Joan's colleagues think is strange about her approach to her father's death?

10. What does the hospital director suddenly offer Joan in Part II?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Joan believe she "catastrophizes" around her family, but not at work? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What are some of Joan's memories of discrimination and racism that she experienced from her childhood? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay describing how Wang uses tone and language to establish Joan's character throughout the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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