View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The woman intends to learn in America how to __________________________________.

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

3. Lindo was able to convince her in-laws to end her marriage by ______________________________.

4. What was Ying-Ying's unspoken wish?

5. The clothes Ying-Ying wears for the Moon Festival are ________________________.

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Waverly disrespectful of her mother?

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

3. Why is Bing's name written in erasable pencil in the Bible's Death section?

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

5. Ying-Ying has remained a frightened child into her adulthood, and now her daughter is forced to live with Ying-Ying's fears. Why is Ying-Ying St. Clair so afraid?

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

7. Is Ying-Ying a neglected child?

8. What does Lindo's snuffing the candle out signify?

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on Chinese festivals and annual rituals, their origins, their meanings, whether they are still practiced. Can any of them be compared to certain beliefs and practices in the United States? If so, contrast and compare.

Essay Topic 2

The older Chinese women in this story experienced certain aspects of severe female oppression while in China. At the heart of this story is the message of how our own past is imprinted on our children, regardless of how different their lives are. Write an essay about how the experiences of each of the older Chinese women in the story purposely, or inadvertently, passed on certain attitudes and viewpoints about women and their roles to their American daughters. Discuss the impact on their daughters, as well.

Essay Topic 3

Every year people are swept out to sea while vacationing at the beaches on the Pacific coastline. Rose Hsu's younger brother, Bing, got into a particularly precarious position before losing his life in the powerful ocean. Research and write an essay about the several predictable things that people do, or things that they ignore at the coast, that can prove dangerous and sometimes fatal. (This information is readily available from California, Oregon and Washington government agencies.) Why is this such an ongoing problem?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,004 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample