View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How long does Van spend in Cordula's Manhattan flat?

2. Which of the following is NOT the name of one of Van's books?

3. What sense does Van relate to time?

4. What does Kim Beuharnais use to extort money from Ada?

5. What kind of fish does Lucette have when she and Van go to lunch?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Van respond to an invitation to dine at the Captain's table?

2. What does Ada's letter say she will do if Van doesn't allow her to come live with him?

3. What metaphor does Van use for trying to understand time?

4. In Marina's last days, why is Van planning a trip to America?

5. What were the reviews of Van's first book like?

6. Why does Van need to go back for more surgery?

7. What does Lucette say about Ada's hands?

8. What does Van say is as common in dreams as metaphors are in poetry?

9. What does Cordula tell Van about Vanda Broom?

10. How did Percy de Prey die?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As Van's memoir, the novel deals with memory. It also deals with memory through Van's discussion of time and its meaning. Discuss time and memory in the novel.

1) How is the story of Van and Ada's childhood changed by memory? What significance is there to the fact that the children's diaries were destroyed, forcing them to recreate the events from memory?

2) What role does memory plan in Van and Ada's feelings about each other why they are separated?

3) How does time affect the characters? How does Van's discussion of time relate to the characters' experiences?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the novel's portrayal of men and women.

1) How are men and women's experience of sexuality different in the novel? How are they treated differently by society?

2) What does success mean for men and women in the novel? How is it different because of gender?

3) What are men and women's intellectual pursuits in the novel? How are they different because of gender?

Essay Topic 3

The novel is a memoir, narrated by Van with input from Ada, and written in the third person with occasional first-person interludes. Discuss point of view in the novel.

1) Why does Van write his memoir mainly in the third person? What does this say about Van's perception of himself through time and his memories?

2) At what points does Van interrupt the narrative in the first person? What do these first person sections add to the novel? Why are they there?

3) What does Ada add to the novel? Where is her voice present?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 800 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample