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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. Jing Mei is afraid that if she does not find the prodigy in herself she will _________________________-.

2. Waverly's mother pretending to understand chess is ____________________________.

3. Suyuan Woo packed all of her belongings into a _________________.

4. The Hsu family had four sons and ______________________.

5. The swan represents to the old woman ____________________________.

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Discuss why the current members of the Joy Luck Club have invested their winnings in the stock market.

4. Is Ying-Ying a neglected child?

5. The soup An-Mei's mother made for her dying mother was the ultimate show of love for her mother. What does it symbolize?

6. Rose's mother, An-Mei Hsu, has raised quite a large family in America. What might have made her want so many children?

7. 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?

8. Why would Lindo begin to think of her cruel husband as a god?

9. What is it that worries the women about Jing-Mei's visit to China?

10. Waverly Place Jong is named after the street she lives on in San Francisco. Discuss other instances where children are named after localities, ideas or unusual things.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Research and write a biography on the author, Amy Tan. In addition to general information about Tan, draw some conclusions as to how and why she knows so much about a time before she was alive. Is her material all from personal experience or is it researched?

Essay Topic 2

Determine why An-Mei Hsu named her youngest child Bing, and explore the irony that Tan creates with Bing's death. How is Bing's role related to An-mei's religious beliefs, and what does his death represent?

Essay Topic 3

The four Chinese women who become friends in America meet in a Chinese Baptist church, which they were attending for practical reasons. What possible connections could Christianity have to their earlier religious beliefs in China? Did they all eventually accept Christianity over their old religion?

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This section contains 1,006 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample