View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why can't the narrator turn to her family for support in her isolation?

2. How does the relationship between Hélène Lagonelle and the narrator end?

3. What does the narrator realize about the lover even upon the first meeting?

4. In a letter to the narrator after high school, what sport does the younger brother say he has taken up?

5. What would the mother do after she emerged from a depressive episode?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Child prostitution is an undertone throughout the novel. Explain what exchanges are being made and why the relationship would be considered child prostitution. Who benefits from this situation? Who loses?

Essay Topic 2

Although the colony of Chochinchina is a French colony, it is far removed from France. Explain the differences in the colony of Chochinchina and France as seen through the life of the narrator and her family. Do the differences have anything to do with the shift in time periods? Does life change for the narrator simply because she is no longer under the rule of her dysfunctional family?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the early life of the narrator with the later life of the narrator. How does the narrator change? How do her circumstances and family life change? Are there any characteristics of the narrator that remain unchanged from her early life into her later life? What aspects of the narrator's personality does she carry with her throughout life?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 345 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample