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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. How old are the bones from the thousand league beasts that are discovered in Part III?

2. What kind of creatures are heartsick beasts?

3. What kind of beast is the beast the narrator wants to stay with for an extended period in Part III?

4. How do flourishing beasts die?

5. Who does the narrator think might be her father in Part IV?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. What do impasse beasts feed on?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does writing newspaper stories and novels affect the narrator's own perceptions of her feelings and confusions throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What are some of the complications the narrator feels about her relationship with her own mother, and what does the narrator eventually discover about her father? 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 write this novel from the first-person perspective of the unnamed narrator? How does this choice affect the reader's experience? 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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