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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 kind of gun does the narrator take to kill Sonny with in Chapter 16?

2. What word from Chapter 15 refers to a celestial nymph?

3. What word in the book refers to a woman professionally trained to assist a woman in childbirth?

4. Where does Lana say she'd like to live if not in Los Angeles in Chapter 14?

5. During what years was Ho Chi Minh president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has the narrator's past year in the prison been described in Chapter 19?

2. How is the theme of betrayal explored in Chapter 18?

3. What do Lana and Bon discuss at the night club in Chapter 14? How does this conversation impact the narrator?

4. What does Man reveal about his sympathies to the narrator in Chapter 22?

5. How has the narrative style changed in Chapter 21? Why?

6. What conflict takes place between the narrator and Sonny in Chapter 13?

7. Why does Bon insist on returning to Vietnam for the General in Chapter 13?

8. What is significant about Ms. Mori's family photos being set out in Chapter 13?

9. What effects has the torture had on the narrator in the beginning of Chapter 22?

10. What is the narrator's central internal conflict in the beginning of Chapter 16?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the narrator's revisions on his confession. Why is the commandant insistent that the narrator revise the work? What are his criticisms of the work? How does the narrator appease him?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of duality in The Sympathizer. How does the author establish this theme in the first lines of the novel? How does the theme of duality evolve throughout the story? What symbolism relates to this theme?

Essay Topic 3

How does the General respond when he discovers the courtship between the narrator and Lana? How does the narrator feel about the General's response? How does Madame feel about the situation?

(see the answer keys)

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