View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Hyeonseo's father rushes back into the burning house, what items does he emerge from the house carrying?
(a) Two portraits.
(b) Two pieces of identification.
(c) Two cats.
(d) Two photo albums.

2. Why does Hyeonseo's mother carry a candle to the door when meeting Hyeonseo's future father and her future husband for the second time?
(a) Because she thinks it will lend a romantic air to their reunion.
(b) Because the power in the city is out.
(c) Because the power in the country is out.
(d) Because her father does not permit her to waste money on electricity at night.

3. What simile does Hyeonseo use to describe the fireball emanating from her childhood home?
(a) Like a chrysanthemum.
(b) Like a water lily.
(c) Like a peony.
(d) Like a snapdragon.

4. What unconventional and technically illegal hairstyle did Hyeonseo wear while attending school in Hyesan?
(a) A bob.
(b) A fringe.
(c) A mohawk.
(d) A perm.

5. What did Hyeonseo do when she saw the starving infant and its mother in the market outside Wiyeon Station?
(a) She put money in the mother's hand.
(b) She put money on the baby's lap.
(c) She flagged down a policeman.
(d) She called for an ambulance.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what figure is Chapter 14's title referring in its statement that "The great heart has stopped beating" on the chapter's title page?

2. Hyeonseo's first memory consists of almost dying in what way?

3. Hyeonseo says that her parents' jobs and business dealings meant that her family had enough what?

4. What does seo mean in Korean?

5. How many broad categories exist within the caste system of songbun?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the author claim is ironic about North Korea's beginnings as a communist state?

2. What does Hyeonseo mean when she tells the reader, "We were now living in a sensitive area, politically," in relation to the family's home in Hyesan (59)?

3. What does the author say is the reason that "kindness toward strangers is rare in North Korea" (38)?

4. How is the theme of language as a tool of manipulation present within the North Korean campaign of 1992?

5. What major rite of passage within North Korea's culture does Hyeonseo undergo when she is 14 years old?

6. What quality of her mother's personality does Hyeonseo state is an unusual trait for a woman of high songbun?

7. What is the "only permitted outlet for spiritual fervor" (41) in North Korea and what does the author say is the punishment for seeking out different means of spirituality?

8. When Hyeonseo's grandmother tells her the truth about her biological father and stepfather, what is Hyeonseo's response and what does she say that she should have done instead?

9. How is Hyeonseo's mother's devotion to Hyeonseo's father demonstrated in the scene when Hyeonseo's father does not return on time from his business trip to China?

10. How are the themes of money and freedom linked within the scene in which Hyeonseo's mother is caught on the street wearing trousers?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,321 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample