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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 happens to Lin's weight when he falls ill with tuberculosis?

2. Which revolutionary party is Manna interested in joining?

3. What is the purpose of the newspaper article about Lin and Shuyu's divorce hearing?

4. Who does Manna hit while riding her bike home one night?

5. When Liang Meng and Manna meet alone in the city, whose poetry does he quote?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the two men in Manna's life in Chapter 4 leave her between a rock and a hard place?

2. Why does Lin discourage Manna from joining any of the revolutionary parties in the hospital?

3. Why is Manna more embarrassed than heartbroken at Commissar Wei's rejection?

4. Why won't Manna report her rape?

5. What does Lin's daydream about the nurses say about him?

6. Why has Lin doubted himself of being a "normal" man? How does he gauge "normal?"

7. What dilemmas do Shuyu's feet make for Lin?

8. Why is Lin's response to "Leaves of Grass" peculiar to his usual tendencies towards literature?

9. Why does Shuyu's brother object to Lin's wish for a divorce?

10. What is the relationship Manna Wu invents between Lin Kong and Pinging Ma? Why does Manna think Pingping is more appealing to Lin than she is?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Pick one of the following positions to argue in an essay:

- Manna is the appropriate wife for Lin.

- Shuyu is the appropriate wife for Lin.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the parallels between the characters and the political context of China. What do the characters represent about the evolving political organization of China? What role do Chinese politics play in the lives of the characters?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about Lin's orchestration of relationships and the necessity of control. Respond to the following questions:

- How does Lin act when he is orchestrating the situation?

- How does Lin react when he has no control over another person or their actions?

(see the answer keys)

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