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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. The children and their mother live in a single room in ___________________.

2. What does the woman do to the old dog she has fed?

3. The girl has a collection of __________________ from her father.

4. What month is it as the girl, her brother and mother are on a train?

5. Why can the girl not eat the oranges on the train?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe how the woman goes about packing up the family's belongings.

2. How are Japanese-Americans notified that they are to be relocated and what indicates that people are preparing?

3. What is the premise of WHEN THE EMPEROR WAS DIVINE?

4. Why does the girl lie about her father to to the man named Ted?

5. How does the father recognize the girl's birthday even though he is incarcerated?

6. What does the soldier advise the girl to stop doing on the train and what does he make the train's occupants do while passing through a town in Nevada?

7. How is the girl's naivete exhibited when she waves to people from the train?

8. How can the woman's demeanor be described during her preparations for the family's move?

9. What is the boy's life like at the camp?

10. How much time has passed since the family's initial move and from whose perspective in Chapter 2 told?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the main settings for the novel. Why does Otsuka use the settings she does? What is the time period of the story? How important is the time period to the attitudes and issues of the characters?

Essay Topic 2

Create a brief character study of the father. What does he look like? What are his positive personality traits? What are some of his negative characteristics? What are his hopes and fears? What motivates him--if anything--at this point?

Essay Topic 3

Extreme prejudice takes on an almost human persona in this story. What is this literary technique called? Cite examples that support this position.

(see the answer keys)

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