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119 pages 3 hours read

Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Refugees

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2017

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Exam Questions

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 words summarizes the speaker’s youthful years in Story 1?

A) Ambivalence

B) Delight

C) Woe

D) Shame

2. Why does Marcus tell Liem that he is an “honorary Englishman?”

A) Because he used to live in Manchester

B) Because he was adopted by an English family in the US

C) Because he adores British cinema

D) Because he is from a colony of the UK

3. In Story 3, which of the following rhetorical devices does Mrs. Hoa use to persuade the speaker’s mother to donate money to the anti-communist cause?

A) Pathos

B) Ethos

C) Logos

D) Kairos

4. Based on the situation in Story 3 between the robber and the speaker’s family, which of the following words describe the speaker’s parents?

A) Helpless

B) Agreeable

C) Confused

D) Averting

5. Based on his description in Story 4, which of the following statements describes Arthur?

A) He has a Vietnamese background.

B) He has a gambling problem.

C) He is willing to give an organ to those in need.

D) He is a rule follower.

6. Which of the following emotions best describes how Mrs. Khanh feels about her life by the end of the story?

A) Fulfilled with her marriage and work at the university

B) Resigned to the present circumstances and situation

C) Scared to accept the reality that they must return to Vietnam

D) Ashamed to deny her husband the opportunity to recuperate his health

7. Which of the following sentences best describes how Claire processes her father’s military involvement?

A) She is proud of his patriotism.

B) She is annoyed with his nostalgia.

C) She is ashamed of his prior involvement in warfare.

D) She is concerned about his mental well-being after he was discharged.

8. Which of the following sentences is true about the majority of the novel?

A) Many of the stories take place in California.

B) Most of the speakers are elderly Vietnamese men.

C) Three of the stories are written in the second-person narration style.

D) All of the stories are linked to the displacement of Vietnamese people as a result of World War II.

9. Based on the speaker’s description in Story 7, which of the following statements about Mr. P is true?

A) He is preoccupied with his offspring’s masculinity.

B) He is suffering from the loss of his spouse.

C) He is a timid, mild-mannered man.

D) He is anxious about his infidelity.

10. Which of the following situations of the novel is a logical fallacy?

A) Mrs. Khanh’s references to the painting

B) Vivien’s insistence on buying her family dinner in Vietnam

C) Mrs. Hoa’s statement that refusing to donate to her cause meant that someone was a Communist

D) Thomas’s agreement to become a man by getting a new wardrobe

11. Which of the following geographical elements of Vietnam is referred to several times in the novel?

A) The simile of Vietnam as an eagle

B) The parallel between the “north-south” divide and the US Civil War

C) The metaphor of Angkor Wat’s strength to the White House

D) The allusion to Norse mythology for the Vietnamese gods

12. As Phuong gradually learns more about her half-sister Vivien, what realization does she come to?

A) That she will never be as strong as Vivien

B) That Vivien will always be the uglier of the two

C) That she is happy to not have grown up in Vietnam like Vivien did

D) That Vivien is not as tough as she initially presents herself

13. Which of the following statements best describes why Vivien’s mother would lie about their life to Phuong and her family?

A) The desire to be loved by Phuong’s father

B) The expectation of fulfilling the “American Dream”

C) The fear of being deported by the government

D) The hope that Phuong’s father would send them money

14. In his 2017 article in the Financial Times, Nguyen states that in 1975, “Saigon was about to fall, or on the brink of liberation.” Which of the following phrases most accurately describes why people would have different opinions of this contrasting statement?

A) Their sexual orientation

B) Their pro or anti-China sympathy

C) Their political and economic beliefs

D) Their association as either an Allied or Axis power

15. Which of the novel’s following motifs represents the ability to become a new person?

A) The landmines

B) The liver transplant

C) The Ao Dai

D) The boat

Long Answer

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

1. What is the narration style of the book? How does this style link with the title and theme of the book?

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