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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. When did Maxine's aunt marry her husband?

2. What does the woman give the women with bound feet?

3. Which of these is a possibility Maxine considers to explain her aunt's pregnancy?

4. What does the girl in Maxine's story follow at the beginning of the story?

5. What do the people she meets show the girl to convince her to stay?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "White Tigers," why does the young woman hide her gender from her army?

2. What is narrator's impression of her mother when looking at the old medical school photograph?

3. When she is about to stay overnight in the haunted room at school, what does the narrator's mother tell the other girls at medical school to do if they find her very afraid in the morning?

4. What bothers the narrator the most about the mentally retarded man who comes and sits in the laundry?

5. How did the women at medical school change the rituals the narrator's mother describes?

6. What are three of the gifts Moon Orchid brings her family from China?

7. How does the narrator feel when she understands that her family will not return to China? Why does she feel this way?

8. Do you think the story of the narrator's aunt is true? Explain why or why not.

9. What do Brave Orchid's daughters learn from watching what happens between Moon Orchid and her husband?

10. How does the narrator feel about Brave Orchid's relationship with the slave girl?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Moon Orchid and Brave Orchid reunite after spending many years on different continents. Explain how the sisters feel about one another using examples.

Part 1) What does Moon Orchid think about Brave Orchid's new life in America?

Part 2) How does Brave Orchid try to help Moon Orchid adjust to America?

Part 3) Do you think the sisters get along? Explain why or why not.

Essay Topic 2

Describe the narrator's relationship with the quiet girl at school, particularly their interactions. Why do you think the narrator picks on the quiet girl? What do the narrator's actions reveal about her upbringing and her opinions about herself?

Essay Topic 3

A large part of the novel describes the narrator's childhood.

Part 1) Explain at least two of the secrets the narrator has to keep during her childhood. How do you think these secrets affected the narrator's personal and social life?

Part 2) Why do you think the Chinese American children are warned about immigration growing up? Explain what fears immigrants had during the time period of the novel's setting, and how these fears relate to the events of the novel as a whole.

(see the answer keys)

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