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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 does Xi-feng make Jia Rui believe about herself?

2. What does Aroma realize about Bao-yu as she helps him redress after his nap?

3. Where is the party Grandmother Jia and the family held?

4. What does Bao-yu do when the answer from Dai-yu is "no"?

5. Who settles the boy in Qin Shi's room?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Bao-yu's relationship to alcohol in Chapter 8.

2. How does the author make it clear in Chapter 1 that the reader should expect an element of the supernatural in the novel?

3. Why does Xi-feng hush Bao-yu when he questions the drunken servant cursing the Jia family at the Ning house?

4. What can we understand from Zhen Shi-yin's dream in the first chapter?

5. What events surrounding the trial in Chapter 4 illustrate further the Jia family's decline?

6. How does the author establish karma as a central theme in Chapter 1?

7. What can be understood from Chinese diplomatic culture when considering Bao-yu's meeting with Prince Qinzhong?

8. Upon their first meeting, do Bao-yu and Dai-yu feel a connection with each other? If so, how is it shown?

9. Explore the significance of Bao-yu's inability to understand the songs the fairies sing to him about his family history, how to improve himself, and the fates of the women of the household.

10. What can be understood from the events surrounding the situation at the school in regard to other school children making fun of the boys of the Jia clan?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the society portrayed in the novel shown to be strongly familial? In your answer, comment upon the familial influences felt by Bao-yu.

Essay Topic 2

How is the framing story of the stone's background an effective foundation for the author to build the rest of the action upon?

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following characters and discuss his or her relationship with and impact upon Bao-yu.

• Xi-feng

• Aroma

• Qin-shi

• Qin Zhong

(see the answer keys)

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