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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. While being interrogated in the guardhouse, where do the children say they are going?

2. In the Worker's Paradise, what happens to traitors?

3. Which word means "of course" in Korean?

4. As Sookan and Inchun are almost to the South, what do they hear behind them?

5. What does Sookan's family give their guide as payment for taking them South?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the guide who is to lead the family to the South.

2. Describe how Sookan watches out for Inchun overnight in the barn.

3. How does Mother eventually make it to the South?

4. After losing Mother at the guard station, who do Sookan and Inchun help in the market?

5. What does the guide tell the children to do if their mother is captured? What do they actually do?

6. At the end of the book, what has happened to Kisa and Aunt Tiger?

7. Describe the town meetings.

8. How are Inchun and Sookan interrogated by the Russians?

9. After the Russians invade northern Korea, where is father and what is he doing?

10. When the family prepares to escape to the South, who stays behind and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Sookan's education within the novel, mentioning:

1) Japanese school

2) Little Proletariat School

3) Grandfather's home lessons

4) Sookan's school in Seoul.

Essay Topic 2

Explore and discuss examples of social class divisions within the text, being sure to touch upon:

A) Race.

B) Politics.

C) Prominence and wealth.

Essay Topic 3

Argue whether the setting in "Year of Impossible Goodbyes" is pivotal to the story.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 667 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample