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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 was the one luxury Hyeonseo says her family bought after moving into their riverfront home in Hyesan?
(a) A color television set.
(b) A dishwasher.
(c) A hair dryer.
(d) A washing machine.

2. Attendance at what event is mandatory for children from the time they enter North Korean elementary school?
(a) A children's party given on the anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth.
(b) Public hangings.
(c) Taekwondo tournaments.
(d) National concerts.

3. Hyeonseo remarks that the family's home by the river in Hyesan was perfect for what?
(a) Learning to sail.
(b) Her mother's illicit enterprises.
(c) Learning to ice skate.
(d) Her own gardening hobby.

4. What form of currency does Hyeonseo say is required for bribes and for the purchase of black market goods?
(a) Precious metals.
(b) The Korean won.
(c) Foreign cash.
(d) Travelers' checks.

5. Hyeonseo says that she has learned that people can do without almost anything, but they cannot do without what?
(a) Shelter.
(b) Family.
(c) Food.
(d) Friends.

Short Answer Questions

1. How long after Hyeonseo's father disappeared did the family hear that he had been released to a hospital in Hyesan?

2. What was the sentence given to the family deported for the father's mistake of rolling a cigarette using a piece of newspaper and failing to notice a picture of the Great Leader on the other side of the scrap?

3. When Hyeonseo's father rushes back into the burning house, what items does he emerge from the house carrying?

4. What was the title of Hyeonseo's favorite song and is also the title of Chapter 10 of her memoir?

5. Even though it meant shopping for food every day, for what reason did Hyeonseo's mother eschew the latest trend of buying a refrigerator from China?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What does the family's color television symbolize within the narrative?

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

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

7. What major world event does Hyeonseo say she and other North Koreans were completely ignorant of in the 1990s?

8. How is the theme of appearance versus reality demonstrated within the description of Hyeonseo's mother's behavior once her husband has been detained for ten days?

9. What do the hills surrounding the city of Anju symbolize within the text?

10. 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)?

(see the answer keys)

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