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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. An army officer told Suyuan Woo _________________________________-.
(a) That the Japanese are losing the war
(b) To hold on to her silk dresses
(c) To go to her husband in Chungking
(d) That her babies will be fine

2. The old woman who buys a swan eventually _____________________________.
(a) Takes the swan back to China
(b) Gives the swan to her daughter
(c) Eats the swan to survive
(d) Takes the swan to America

3. Rose's mother recorded Bing's death _______________________.
(a) With an erasable pencil
(b) With disappearing ink
(c) By hiding the Bible
(d) With a flowery inscription

4. Besides losing her name, Lena's mother lost ________________________.
(a) Her friends
(b) Her status in China
(c) Her entire heritage
(d) Her entire dowry

5. Lindo was able to convince her in-laws to end her marriage by ______________________________.
(a) Playing into their superstitions
(b) Crying and wailing
(c) Being infertile
(d) Offering them all of her gold

Short Answer Questions

1. Auntie had a tongue "like hungry scissors _________________________.

2. Rose's mother, in exchange for Bing, gave to the ocean _____________________.

3. Lindo's mother-in-law _______________________________.

4. Lindo Jong's family treated her ________________________________.

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why might it be that Jing-Mei continues to be a failure?

2. Why did An-Mei's mother return to her sister's home where she was so unwanted and rejected? Was her mother the person An-Mei had thought she was?

3. 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?

4. Does the little girl fall from the bicycle because her mother is right, or because she is afraid her mother is right, or is it just a chance circumstance?

5. What triggers Ying-Ying's early memory of her traumatic fall from the family boat?

6. 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.

7. What might Ying Ying have been planning to ask the Moon Lady for if she had not become lost?

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

9. Jing-Mei Woo's mother has great expectations of her daughter. Why is she like this?

10. The imagery of the woman fluttering her arms when the swan is taken from her is sad. What does it imply?

(see the answer keys)

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