Study Questions: The Chinago

1. Why doesn't Ah Cho tell thetruth about the murder of Chung Ga? 
2. How do the Chinagos' testimony differ from Schemmer's? 
3. Why does Ah Cho consider himself fortunate to be in Tahiti? (2) 
4. What are Ah Cho's plans for his future? 
5. Describe Ah Cho's personality. 
6. Describe Schemmer and his duties.
7.  How is the report of the death of the Chinago that Schemmer killed falsified?
8. Describe how the "white devils" are viewed by the Chinagos. 
9. Describe how the murder of Chung Ga really happened. 
10. What reason does the French court give for the punishments it hands out to the defendants? 
11. How does Ah Cho feel about his punishment? 
12. Describe Cruchot's beliefs about authority. 
13. Why is Ah Cho mistakenly delivered to Cruchot instead of Ah Chow? 
14. Where does Ah Cho think he is being taken? 
15. What are Cruchot's reasons for not correcting the mistake? 
16. How do the rest of the Chinagos react when they see that the wrong man is standing on the scaffold?
17. Why does Schemmer fail to correct the mistake? 
18. When Ah Cho sees that his death is imminent, he remembers passages from "The Tract of the Quiet Way. Why are these passages not fitting to the predicament he finds himself in? 
19. How are the last two sentences related to the first sentence of the story? 

Experiment: "The Chinago"

Other texts arementioned many times in "The Chinago," e.g. testimony, contracts, maxims, etc. Read the story again and list every reference to a text you see. We wil compare these lists in class and discuss London's possible reasons for including references to these other texts.