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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 house are the Sakane family assigned to?

2. From where has Ken come back home?

3. What is the title of the sixth chapter?

4. What is the name of Yuki's dog?

5. What kind of Japanese family are the Kurihara family?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the Sakanes' friends react to Mr. Sakane's arrest?

2. Describe the Sakanes' new living space.

3. What is a Nisei Japanese American?

4. What do the Sakane family do while waiting for Mr. Sakane to arrive home?

5. Summarize chapter seven.

6. Describe the camp at Tanforan.

7. Describe the Kurihara family.

8. Why is Ken depressed in chapter eight?

9. How does Mrs. Sakane try to make the best of a bad situation in chapter six?

10. Why can Japanese people not go to university on the West Coast?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author wrote Journey to Topaz in the first person. Why do you think the author chose to write the story in the first person? How do you think the meaning of the story would change if the author wrote it in the third person?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss elements of the narrative structure: Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the novel's themes?

Essay Topic 3

What are the arguments for and against putting the Japanese into camps in the 1940s? What is Uchida's opinion how the Japanese and how does she express them? Do you agree or disagree with Uchida?

(see the answer keys)

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