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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Bo describes the First Indochina War as lasting how long?
(a) Decades.
(b) A lifetime.
(c) A century.
(d) A decade.

2. Which members of her family does Thi interview for an oral history project and "the beginnings of this book" (136)?
(a) Ma, Bo, and Lan.
(b) Ma, Lan, and Bich.
(c) Bich and Bo.
(d) Ma and Bo.

3. Ma says that her mother had taken what action whenever Thi had climbed into her lap?
(a) She had needed to leave for work.
(b) She had hugged Thi closer.
(c) She had complained aloud.
(d) She had pushed Thi away.

4. During Bo's father's visit, he told Bo that whose family was "too nguy" for him to "risk being associated" (224) with them?
(a) Travis.
(b) Lan.
(c) Ma.
(d) Tam.

5. Thi includes a portrait of her mother that Thi had drawn at what age?
(a) 12.
(b) 10.
(c) 14.
(d) 8.

Short Answer Questions

1. Ngo Dinh Diem was the prime minister of what area of Vietnam when he decided to fight the Binh Xuyen?

2. Thi describes her mother's scent by using the name of what brand?

3. Hai and Bo took what action to keep Hai's children quiet as the patrol boats passed?

4. How old is the only child of Bo and Ma when people start to say that Saigon will "become a sea of blood" (214)?

5. Thi makes a point of saying that only when which person had returned to the fold of the family did "order and comfort return" (266)?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the origins of Bui's memoir The Best We Could Do.

2. In what year does Bo arrive in Saigon for the first time and to which of Thi's own experiences does she visually compare the moment in Bo's life?

3. What happens when Bo's father visits Bo for the first time in 20 years?

4. What is the meaning of the term "nguy" (221)?

5. What do the glamourous photographs of Ma symbolize to Thi after she becomes an adult?

6. What new law is one that Ma is unwilling to follow?

7. What occurs on April 30, 1975?

8. What do the glamorous photographs of Ma symbolize to Thi during her childhood?

9. For what specific purpose does Bui depict Ma's dedication to her children?

10. How does Bui elicit pathos within Chapter 7, entitled "Heroes and Losers"?

(see the answer keys)

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