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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. A Chinese Santa Claus asked Waverly ______________________________________.
(a) If she really believed in Santa Claus
(b) If she knew her proper age
(c) If she believed in Jesus and obeyed her parents
(d) If she had been good to her parents

2. When she was bored, Jing-mei ________________________________.
(a) Counted the foghorn bellows on the bay
(b) Looked at herself in the mirro
(c) Watched her mother jump up to adjust the television
(d) Read the Bible

3. When Teresa and her family get over their anger, and hug and kiss, Lena ______________________________________.
(a) Tells her father Teresa went down the fire escape
(b) Wishes her mother would get angry
(c) Begins to have hope for her own life
(d) Is angry that she had to witness the fight

4. The old woman's daughter swallowed this, more than sorrow.
(a) Humiliation
(b) Coffee
(c) Green tea
(d) Coca-Cola

5. Ying-Ying's family is __________________.
(a) A fishing family
(b) A boat family
(c) Well-to-do
(d) A poor family of servants

Short Answer Questions

1. Throughout the discussion between the mother and child, the mother continues to _______________.

2. The Twenty Six Malignant Gates is about _____________________________________________.

3. The woman transported the swan ____________________________.

4. Waverly Jong's mother taught her early about ____________________________.

5. An-Mei Hsu uses her Bible as ___________________________________.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the difference between the little girl's response to her mother's admonishment about riding the bicycle, and the response that one of these older women might have had to their mothers' warnings years ago?

2. June Woo started the American Joy Luck Club because she sensed the grief in the other Chinese people she met here. How does the club help June Woo deal with her own tragic memories?

3. Waverly's unusual talent becomes a reason to pamper and spoil her. Does she appreciate this treatment? How does it affect her?

4. The parable is obviously based on a current-day story in which one of the mothers in the book tries to warn her daughter of her superstitions. Discuss other instances in the book up until this point where mothers feel they know so much more than their daughters.

5. Discuss the "scar" reference. How did it happen and why?

6. Jing-Mei Woo's mother and Waverly Jong's mother compete through their daughters' failures and successes. Are the two women friends?

7. Discuss how it is that the Italian girl next door provides a sense of peace for Lena.

8. Discuss why the woman has never told her daughter about the single feather she kept from the swan.

9. Why is Jing-Mei satisfied to hit the wrong notes on the piano?

10. What is the root problem in Rose's marriage?

(see the answer keys)

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