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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. Who transcribes the narrator's story for her about the prime beasts in Part IV?

2. Who is the beast who forms an attachment to the narrator while she stays at a different place for awhile in Part III?

3. What color are the lips of the prime beasts?

4. Who does the young beast at Methuselah's look like?

5. What does Jiang Tan's mother say about him?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What happens to Charley that the narrator feels responsible for?

3. Why do female prime beasts sometimes kill their own children?

4. What happens to Lucia's heartsick beast when the narrator takes care of it?

5. What kind of relationship does the narrator have with Fei Fei in Part III?

6. What do impasse beasts feed on?

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

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

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

10. What connection does the narrator have to Methuselah?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Ge treat the topic of deep betrayal in this novel, particularly as it relates to the way the narrator is tricked into revealing the whereabouts of the sacrificial beasts? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

When and how does Ge reveal the true connection the narrator has to various beasts and to the world of 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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