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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. Who is Van's first sexual experience with?

2. What is Ada's hair like?

3. What does Van's father offer to try to buy for him?

4. What does Blanche tell Van?

5. What garment of clothing does Van chide Ada for not wearing?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Aqua kill herself?

2. How does Lucette want to draw flowers, when her sister is trying to teach her to draw?

3. How does Ada act when she tells stories at the table?

4. How does Dick cheat at cards, and how does Van best him?

5. How does Van feel about Marina?

6. What are the circumstances of Marina's first romantic liaison with Demon?

7. How doe Van describe Ada's way of talking when explaining something funny?

8. How does Marina describe Jews to her daughter?

9. Describe the encounter between Blanche and Van.

10. What does Blanche look like as she is ready to leave?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel is filled with reflections of reality through art, such as films and photographs. Discuss these elements of the novel.

1) How do reflections of reality in the novel, like photographs or films, differ from reality itself? How do they create reality through memory?

2) What significance is there to Marina and later Ada's careers as actresses? How does the mimicking of reality in acting affect the characters?

3) How does the governess's screenplay reflect reality at Ardis Hall? How is it modified and changed in the process of production? What does this process of change show about imitations of reality?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss vanity in the novel.

1) Van is described in the novel as vain. Does Van love himself more than any other? Is he proud? What characterizes his vanity?

2) Is Van's vanity an essential element of his attraction to Ada? Is he attracted to her because of her similarities to himself?

3) What role does Van's vanity play in his career? How does it relate to his acrobatic show? How does it relate to his psychological/philosophical books?

Essay Topic 3

Nabokov is known for wordplay, and part of this is using significant names or manipulating names. Discuss the names of characters and places in the novel.

1) What meanings are put onto the characters' names by their association with other words? For example, what do Demon, Aqua, and Marina's names mean? What meanings are put on "Ada" and "Van"?

2) Discuss the name of Ardis Hall and what meanings and associations it has in the novel.

3) How do characters' names change in different contexts? What do these name changes signify?

(see the answer keys)

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