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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. With what does he grapple?

2. Why can he not have a drink?

3. What horrifies the boy?

4. What does the stranger never do?

5. What do the two of them do without talking?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the protagonist vow? What ends his memory?

2. What is significant about this meeting between the protagonist and Kathleen?

3. What memory does he then recall?

4. What does the protagonist criticize in the first section of the novel?

5. How does the protagonist react to the stranger's honesty?

6. What does the protagonist realize years later about his grandmother?

7. Why does the protagonist begin to tell the stranger his story?

8. What is the protagonist's memory about his grandmother?

9. What does the protagonist tell the stranger? How does the stranger respond?

10. What does he tell the nurse? What is her response? Why does he feel this way?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The doctor knows the protagonist does not care about life.

Part 1) How does he know this? What is the protagonist's reaction? Why does he react this way?

Part 2) Why can the doctor not understand the protagonist's depression?

Part 3) With what is the doctor concerned? Should that be his only concern? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Kathleen tells the doctor that she loves the protagonist, and the doctor replies that sometimes love is stronger than prayer.

Part 1) What does this foreshadow?

Part 2) Do you agree with the doctor? Why or why not?

Part 3) How is this love destructive? Why is it destructive?

Essay Topic 3

The smell of meat reminds the protagonist of previous events.

Part 1) Describe these events. Why do these events occur?

Part 2) How do these events reveal the horrors of the holocaust?

Part 3) Can you relate to this kind of trauma? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 905 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample