Crying in H Mart

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following best describes what H Mart symbolizes for Zauner?

A) Her difficulty with accepting change and new beginnings

B) The connection to her childhood, heritage, and mother

C) The disjunction between her family and her boyfriend

D) Her desire to become known as a professional chef

2. How did Chongmi use food to express love for those she cared about?

A) She made food often and paid special attention to people’s food preferences.

B) She took pleasure in buying people their favorite takeout dishes.

C) She hoped people would learn to enjoy making Korean food as much as she did.

D) She worked in a successful Korean restaurant her whole life.

3. How did Zauner’s approach to her music career reflect her approach to food as a child?

A) She hopes that eventually she will feel as connected to her mother through music as she still does through food.

B) She felt that cooking with her mother symbolized their connection, and now she imagines her mother playing music with her.

C) She wonders if her perseverance as a musician is a result of the perseverance her mother displayed in convincing her to enjoy cooking.

D) She tried to be brave in trying so many different foods as a child, and, likewise, she wants to be fearless in persisting as a musician.

4. How did Zauner feel like she had to balance her identity as a child?

A) She felt that as she grew closer to her Korean heritage, she also grew closer to her peers.

B) She knew that she could easily fit into two worlds but that she had to choose one.

C) She felt somewhat out of place both in her Korean family and around her white peers.

D) She hoped that her life would be less complicated when she got older.

5. Why did Chongmi not immediately tell Zauner about her cancer diagnosis and treatment?

A) She was afraid that it would cause them to fight.

B) She was hopeful that it would pass, and she would regain her health soon.

C) She wanted to control the narrative about her health.

D) She planned to move to New York to be closer to Michelle.

6. How does Zauner’s perception of her mother’s role as a homemaker change?

A) At first, she associates her mother being a homemaker with a lack of ambition; later, she recognizes how meaningful a life her mother had.

B) At first, she does not realize all her mother does for her father; later, she wonders if her own marriage has begun to reflect her parents’ marriage.

C) At first, she wonders if her mother would have liked a different career; later, she comes to accept that her mother’s life should be accepted, not questioned.

D) At first, she sees her mother’s role as a homemaker as comforting; later, she understands that her father had discouraged her mother’s aspirations.

7. How does Kye make Zauner feel that she is not Korean enough to be a part of her mother’s life?

A) She uses knowledge of Korean culture to put space between Zauner and her mother.

B) She tells Zauner that she needs to learn Korean to be able to care for her mother.

C) She references the ways that Zauner has become influenced by American culture.

D) She hints that Zauner has disappointed her mother with her relationship to Peter.

8. Why is Zauner upset by her mother’s assertion that she’s “not Korean […] You’re American” (96)?

A) She values her Korean heritage as a part of her identity.

B) She knows that what her mother has said is true.

C) She believes that her mother is only saying it to hurt her.

D) She feels that her Korean peers have the same view of her.

9. Why is Zauner surprised that she and her mother chose the same animal in the game played with Eunmi?

A) She thought her mother hated monkeys, so she was shocked when she chose to keep the monkey.

B) She always believed that they were too different to have anything in common, even an animal in a game.

C) She never expected that, in a game about values, she would have said the same thing as her mother.

D) She suspected that her mother would have kept the lion because of her strong personality.

10. Which of the following moments prompts Zauner to wonder if she got her creativity from her mother?

A) Seeing her mother in the kitchen

B) Seeing her mother’s art supplies

C) Seeing her mother’s childhood photos

D) Seeing her mother listen to her music

11. How do Zauner’s feelings about cooking American food for her father compare with her feelings about cooking Korean food?

A) She enjoys cooking American food; it is relatively simple, and preparing it does not bring back painful memories.

B) She hates cooking Korean food after her mother’s death; cooking American food makes her feel more connected to her father.

C) She does not mind cooking American food, but she does not feel as connected to it as she does when making Korean food.

D) She dislikes cooking after her mother passes away, but cooking American food helps this problem to get better.

12. Which of the following best describes why Zauner wants to stay busy working at the pizza shop?

A) She needs to make enough money to start her first band.

B) She wants to spend time away from home as her marriage disintegrates.

C) She plans to save money so she can stay in Oregon permanently.

D) She uses the work to avoid feeling and processing her grief.

13. To whom does Zauner turn to remain connected to her family heritage?

A) Her father

B) Nami Emo

C) Peter

D) Maangchi

14. Which of the following is not an example of the theme of Food’s Relationship to Cultural and Family Identity?

A) Zauner’s decision to learn how to make kimchi

B) Kye’s persistence in speaking to Chongmi in Korean

C) Peter’s choice of where to first meet Zauner’s parents

D) Zauner’s love for watching Maangchi’s videos

15. How does the motif of karaoke take on more significance as the memoir progresses?

A) It begins as a way to meet people, but it becomes a way of connecting with someone who knew her mother closely.

B) It begins as a way of processing intense emotions, but ultimately it becomes a way for Zauner to ignore her grief.

C) It begins as a way of getting to know people, but ultimately it becomes Zauner’s career and a place where she feels most herself.

D) It begins as a way of handling grief after Chongmi’s death, but it becomes a means for Zauner to connect with much of her mother’s family.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does Zauner feel caught between two worlds as both Korean and American?

2. Why does Zauner try to learn more about Korean foods? Give at least one example of a meal that she makes and what it means to her.