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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. Bui describes her family as fleeing from one country and starting over in another during what decade?

2. Thi says that Bo had fished for what kind of creatures in his childhood spent in Hai Phong?

3. Chapter 2: "Rewind, Reverse" begins in 2015, but quickly moves to what other year?

4. Thi witnesses which person get spat on as he is called a racial slur?

5. What "immense" (22) emotion does Bui feel after giving birth to her son?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the strongest emotion Thi feels toward Bo toward the end of her adolescence?

2. For what reason is Bo unable to teach in the United States, though he had taught in Vietnam?

3. For what purpose does Bui begin Chapter 2: "Rewind, Reverse" in a particular place and then change to a different era on the very next page?

4. For what purpose are allusions to heaven and hell included in Chapter 3?

5. How does Bui use visual elements to underscore her feelings about the doctor's answer to her question in the hospital?

6. Explain the nature of the present-day relationship between Bo and Ma.

7. In what time and place does the opening scene of The Best We Could Do begin?

8. What is one element of Ma's parenting that Bui depicts as being different for each one of her children?

9. What food always brings comfort to Thi and why?

10. How does the doctor respond to Thi's question about her child's birth?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Bui’s memoir The Best We Could Do. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the memoir.

Essay Topic 2

Sensory details are used frequently by Bui in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of The Best We Could Do. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Bui’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

Could The Best We Could Do be classified as a coming-of-age story? Why or why not?

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