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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 kind of special tree does Methuselah have at the temple?

2. What happens to flourishing beasts almost as soon as they are born?

3. Who is the film star Zhong Liang seems to be looking for?

4. What does Zhong Liang give the narrator for Christmas?

5. What happens to the heartsick beast the narrator watches for Lucia while Lucia is away?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator realize she herself is a heartsick beast?

2. How does Lucia's mother feel when Lucia wants her heartsick beast to look like the narrator?

3. What connection does the narrator have to Methuselah?

4. Why does the narrator tell Zhong Liang her stories have to be fairly simple?

5. Why is the wood of flourishing beast saplings so valuable?

6. Who saves the narrator from the impasse beast's effects?

7. Why does the narrator come to stay with Methuselah in Part III?

8. What theory does the narrator hatch about her own history with prime beasts?

9. Who nurses the narrator back to health after her run-in with the prime beast?

10. What kind of relationship seems to be developing between Zhong Liang and the narrator in Part IV?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think Ge chose to have sorrowful beasts die if they smile, and what is the symbolism behind this mechanism? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What does Ge describe as some of the most significant differences between beasts and humans? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

What do you think Ge intends to communicate to readers by revealing, at the end of the novel, that there is actually very little separation between the worlds of beasts and humans? 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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