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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 object does Hyeonseo's first customer in her new job ask her for when she mistakenly gives him a piece of gum?

2. In what area of the men's salon is Hyeonseo put to work massaging a man?

3. Whom does Hyeonseo name as someone who becomes a great friend to her in China?

4. Whom does Hyeonseo mentally thank for forcing her to learn Chinese characters once it is clear she must stay in China long-term?

5. What is Geun-soo doing when he gets on the phone with Hyeonseo and asks her to come back?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Geun-soo's mother's views regarding what kind of women Geun-soo should date?

2. What are the considerations that cause Hyeonseo to waffle in her decision about whether or not to go to South Korea?

3. How does Hyeonseo characterize Min-ho's view of money and how his views represent those of all North Koreans?

4. What reasons does Hyeonseo provide for her tendency to forget she is North Korean once she has been in Shanghai for a full year?

5. What secret does Hyeonseo keep from Geun-soo, though she does tell him that she is North Korean?

6. How does Hyeonseo feel every time she walks into the Shanghai restaurant called Pyongyang Okryugwan and why?

7. When Hyeonseo speaks to her mother on the phone for the first time in years, what is Hyeonseo's reaction?

8. What does Hyeonseo long for just before she again meets her previous acquaintance Ok-hee?

9. How does Hyeonseo acquire her new identification card while living in China?

10. What is symbolized by Hyeonseo's "fashionable new shoes" (101) that she wears on her journey into China?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the structure the author uses to construct the memoir and discuss what her purpose is for breaking the narrative into three parts as she does. What advantages does this choice give her and how does it align with the messages she is trying to get across to the reader?

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

After her forced separation from her family, Hyeonseo builds many relationships with others that resemble family relationships. Choose three people with whom Hyeonseo builds these familial relationships, describe the circumstances surrounding the bonds she forms with each person, and discuss how these relationships fuel the author's message about the definition of family.

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