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

2. What happened to modern heartsick beasts after the age of 5?

3. How did the narrator's mother die?

4. Where does Zhong Liang go to try to find information about the person he is desperate to find?

5. Who does Methuselah show the narrator a picture of herself with?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. Who does the narrator realize must be her "father?"

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

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

9. What connection does the narrator have to Methuselah?

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

Why and how does the narrator experience guilt over the course of the novel - especially as the feeling relates to her professor, Charley, and Zhong Liang? Write an essay explaining your answers.

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

How does the narrator's professor's teachings and views about various beasts affect the narrator's approach to beasts throughout the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

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