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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 first shook Yue Daiyun's faith in the Communist party?

2. Why would a good Communist mistrust his own conscience?

3. What effect did the struggle sessions have on Lao Chen, the literature department head?

4. How were landlords punished in the village of Jiangxi during land reform?

5. Why was Yue Daiyun's long-awaited home visit depressing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Yue Daiyun object to Lao Tang's brother's wife?

2. Why did Yue Daiyun support Party policy above her own conscience?

3. What is the message of Yue Daiyun's poem "To the Storm"?

4. In 1976, what did the students do to Yue Daiyun's home?

5. Why had Yue Daiyun's earlier visit to the Soviet Union been disillusioning?

6. Why was Yue Daiyun to be criticized while on maternity leave?

7. Why weren't the peasants reassured by the harsh treatment of their former landlords?

8. Where had the idea of parading enemies come from?

9. How were the landlords treated by the local Communist Party committee?

10. What does it mean to "draw a line" between yourself and another person?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do you believe that Yue Daiyun's basic political philosophy changed greatly during the years she has described in her story? Give reasons, quotations, and examples to support your opinion.

Essay Topic 2

Landlords were the most vilified of any group described in this story. Why was their condemnation so universal? What happened to them? To their property?

Essay Topic 3

Several times in this memoir, people were urged to make a confession to things of which they did not believe themselves guilty. In your essay, evaluate the effect of this practice. Why did people make false confessions? What was the benefit? The cost?

(see the answer keys)

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