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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. Later in life, what does the narrator write many books about?

2. What is the name of the mother?

3. What nationality is the lover?

4. How does the narrator think the younger brother died?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the mother consider writing, in regards to a career for the narrator, to be unconscionable?

2. What compels the Chinese financier to approach the narrator?

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

4. Would the brothers and the narrator be considered to be equals?

5. Why does the mother act oblivious about her family's plight and her children's behavior?

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

7. What happens to the lover after the narrator leaves for France?

8. In segment 13, what happens between the narrator and the lover that results in the narrator being turned off by the lover for the first time?

9. Describe the narrator's outfit in Segment 2. In what way does it transform her?

10. Explain why the relationship would not have lasted even if the narrator would have remained in Chochinchina.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

There are four female characters in this novel. Discuss the role of women in the novel and their relationship and interaction with one another. What are the defining relationships in the novel and what do we learn from them?

Essay Topic 3

The relationship between the lover and the narrator lasted for a year and a half. Identify the course of the relationship and the key events that shifted the course. What is the beginning of the relationship? What is the highpoint of the relationship? When does the relationship take a downturn? How does the relationship end?

(see the answer keys)

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