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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. How do impasse beasts eat?

2. Who does the bartender at the Dolphin Bar tell the narrator miss Charley?

3. What are all flourishing beasts?

4. What kind of tongue did the male sacrificial beast have?

5. Where does the narrator spend a lot of her time?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator's professor say about joyous beasts when she asks him about the picture in the paper?

2. What does the narrator think the sacrificial beasts sacrifice themselves for?

3. Why do sorrowful beasts seek only one mate in life?

4. How does the unnamed narrator describe her own work?

5. Why are birds illegal to have as pets?

6. What is Charley's connection to Li Chun?

7. Where does the narrator like to hang out, and what does she do there?

8. Why can the sorrowful beasts never smile?

9. What is unusual about the death of sacrificial beasts?

10. What kind of relationship does the narrator have with Lucia?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In what instances does Ge employ irony throughout the novel - perhaps especially in the naming of the classes of beasts themselves? Write an essay explaining your answers.

Essay Topic 2

Why does the narrator seem so drawn to birds, and what do the birds symbolize - including the phoenix - throughout this novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think Ge chose to write this novel from the first-person perspective of the unnamed narrator? How does this choice affect the reader's experience? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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