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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. 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?

2. What example is given of a person who would inhabit the lowest level of songbun?

3. At what age does Hyeonseo first visit South Korea?

4. What does seo mean in Korean?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. 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?

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

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

8. 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?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Oftentimes in Western culture, volunteerism is looked at in terms of only helping those in need, but the memoir seems to put forth the proposition that service to others can also be a means to the provider's own personal happiness. Find examples within the memoir that would prove this conclusion regarding the author's message about service to others and discuss the message's overall effect on the reader.

Essay Topic 3

The theme of power is one that comes up over and over within the memoir's narrative, particularly in relation to Hyeonseo's feelings of powerlessness and subsequent realizations about the power she does indeed hold. Choose three instances when Hyeonseo realizes that she does, indeed, carry power, even within her often precarious situation. Discuss how these realizations help to shape the author's message regarding power.

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