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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 is the assistant on the dig revealing the thousand league beast's bones?

2. Who does Zhong Liang tell the narrator that their professor was always mentioning?

3. What time of year is it around the time the narrator's niece gets her heartsick beast?

4. How did thousand league beasts get their name?

5. Who keeps talking nonstop when the narrator asks about the thousand league beasts in Part III?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Zhong Liang's role in the professor's operations?

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

4. How does the narrator arrange for her cousin's family to be saved from the debacle at the airport?

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

6. Who creates heartsick beasts?

7. What do impasse beasts feed on?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How and why do you think Ge employs ambiguity in both her descriptions of the relationships between sets of characters throughout the book, as well as concerning some major plot points? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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 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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 557 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample