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

2. The author states that once she entered kindergarten, she never again belonged to her parents, but instead belonged to whom?
(a) Her future husband.
(b) The state.
(c) Kim Il-sung.
(d) Kim Jong-il.

3. What was NOT a characteristic of the special class Hyeonseo began taking when she was 15?
(a) There were only three girls in the class.
(b) The class taught housekeeping skills.
(c) The class was for girls only.
(d) The class taught knitting skills.

4. For what reason is Uncle Opium protected from investigation?
(a) Because of his high songbun.
(b) Because his brother-in-law is related to the Kims.
(c) Because he lives off the grid.
(d) Because he is rich.

5. About what malady is Hyeonseo speaking when she says that her father displayed signs of "an illness that is not acknowledged in North Korea" (67)?
(a) Anxiety.
(b) Depression.
(c) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
(d) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Short Answer Questions

1. On what condition had Hyeonseo's grandparents agreed to allow their son to marry Hyeonseo's mother?

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

3. What level of the caste system is made up of 10-15% of the North Korean population?

4. What document does a North Korean citizen need in order to even leave their local county?

5. In what sport did Hyeonseo excel enough to represent her school in a tournament while living in Hyesan?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Hyeonseo interpret the fortune-teller's announcement that Hyeonseo will have "a future connected with music" and will "eat foreign rice" (43)?

2. What are the two types of prison in the gulag?

3. What event causes Hyeonseo to change her behavior of listening to South Korean pop with her friends?

4. 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)?

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

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

7. 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?

8. How does Hyeonseo feel about her forced participation in the Socialist Youth League?

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

10. What beliefs about Chinese people does Hyeonseo say are taught to every North Korean child?

(see the answer keys)

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