View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do people usually buy heartsick beasts?

2. Who does Lucia want her heartsick beasts to look like?

3. How does the narrator refer to herself in front of Zhong Liang?

4. How does the narrator keep tabs on the person who is trying to find her in Part III while staying for awhile at a different place?

5. Who tells the narrator about the professor's death?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Methuselah die?

2. What is very unique about the thousand league beasts?

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

4. What connection does the narrator have to Methuselah?

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

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

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

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

9. Why is the narrator so depressed in Part III?

10. What is the highest calling of the flourishing beast?

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

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 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)

This section contains 576 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample