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

2. When Hyeonseo and her family move back to Hyesan, they find that the city has changed in what way?

3. What red article of clothing did Hyeonseo wear to school that caused the teacher to call her a capitalist and to slap her face?

4. Attendance at what event is mandatory for children from the time they enter North Korean elementary school?

5. What was NOT a characteristic of the special class Hyeonseo began taking when she was 15?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is shown about Hyeonseo's maternal grandmother's character within the description of her reaction to Hyeonseo's mother's divorce and child borne of the marriage?

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

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

5. 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)?

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

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

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

9. What is ironic about the North Korean government's use of the term "people's trial" (27)?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The memoir does not shy away from including graphic and disturbing details when describing the horrors inflicted on the North Korean people by the ruling regime, such as the scene in which Hyeonseo witnesses a public hanging. Write a persuasive essay in which you argue for or against the use of this book in schools as a means to illuminate the ongoing human rights violations happening in North Korea.

Essay Topic 2

Many instances of irony are included in the memoir's narrative, including the scene in which Hyeonseo's boyfriend reveals to her that he is exhausted due to rounding up so many North Koreans in one day. Find three other instances of irony within the memoir and discuss each instance's significance.

Essay Topic 3

Within the memoir, the manipulation of language in order to shift people's perspectives is a common theme, such as the North Korean regime's use of the phrase The Arduous March as a euphemism for the deadly famine sweeping the country. Discuss the theme of language manipulation throughout the memoir and relate it to manipulation of language within modern politics.

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