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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 contributed to the narrator's ravaged face?

2. The narrator remembers a photograph of her mother in segment 4. When was the photograph taken?

3. The family in the story consists of white citizens residing in the colony of Chochinchina. Where is the family originally from?

4. Who in the novel is especially terrorized and lives their life in a shadow of fear?

5. What subject is the narrator less successful in?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the mother choose to voice her opinion to the narrator right before leaving for France?

2. Who was blamed for the behavior of the husbands and why?

3. What does the lover fear that the narrator wants from the relationship, and how does the narrator respond?

4. How was Dô, the family servant, treated by the family, and how did she react to this treatment?

5. In what way does the narrator participate in the trend of the colonial potentates taking younger French mistresses?

6. In segment 14, according to the narrator, what evolved over a period of about seven years?

7. What happens to the family's wealth after the father's death?

8. During the height of the relationship, the narrator becomes increasingly fixed on her friend, Helene Lagonelle. What does the narrator express desire to do concerning Helene Lagonelle?

9. On occasion, when the mother would emerge from her depression, she would instruct the house to be cleaned. How would the family respond and why do you think they would feel this way?

10. Do the narrator and the lover have contact at any point after the narrator leaves Chochinchina for France? If so, describe this contact.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the positive and negative factors in the relationship between the narrator and the lover. How are the lives of the narrator and the lover impacted by their relationship? What are the societal implications of their relationship in the time it took place? Also, discuss the implications of a similar relationship in present day.

Essay Topic 2

The narrator gives us a detailed account of her relationship with the lover. It is in fact, as she describes, the turning point in her life. Discuss the impact of the relationship on the life of the narrator. Include aspects of her early, middle and later life. How might the narrator's life have been different had she never met the lover?

Essay Topic 3

Identify the members of the family and describe their role in family life. What dynamic does each character bring to impact the family as a whole?

(see the answer keys)

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