Act II, scenes 8-11: Questions and Answers
Questions
1. Why is Gallimard sent back to France?
2. What happens to Song around the time Gallimard goes to France?
3. Why is Chin disgusted that Song’s hands are “still so smooth?”
4. What is occurring in France in 1968?
5. What does Gallimard do when Song shows up in Paris?
Answers
1. Gallimard is sent back to France for incorrectly predicting how the Vietnamese would react to an increased U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia. He had assumed that the Vietnamese would be submissive.
2. Song is denounced as a decadent actor. He admits to homosexuality and is forced to rehabilitate by working on a farm.
3. The People, or the Cultural Revolution, favored manual laborers. Intellectuals were viewed as leeches to society. To Chin, Song’s smooth hands are an indication of Song’s uselessness.
4. The students rebel against the government. They have communist sympathies. Helga is disgusted with the behavior of the students.
5. Gallimard leaves his wife and takes Song in after "she" appears in Paris.
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