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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. What creature does Li Chun turn into in the joyous beasts story?

2. What does the therapist tell the narrator in the sacrificial beasts story?

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

4. What kind of creatures are joyous beasts?

5. Who is a good friend of the narrator's?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lefty "tame" the sorrowful beast?

2. What happens to Rain in Part I that is tragic?

3. How did being in close contact with a joyous beast seem to affect the mayor of Yong'An?

4. What does Cloud do to Lefty that is unexpected and horrific?

5. What kind of creatures are joyous beasts?

6. What is the nature of sorrowful beasts?

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

8. How does a joyous beast reproduce?

9. In Part I, what does the narrator's professor tell her might have happened to the male sorrowful beast Cloud?

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

What does the killing of both beasts and humans - in large numbers - at different points in the novel reveal about the government in this world Ge has built for the reader? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

How does Ge demonstrate the narrator's occasional lack of ability to cope with the pressures and struggles she encounters, and how does the narrator overcome these moments in her life? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Why is the narrator so fascinated with the returning beasts, in particular, and how do returning beasts represent the key to her unlocking all her major questions about the strange beasts? 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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