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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. What does Karl ask Pollunder about on the drive out to the country?

2. What apparently affectionate gesture does Pollunder make toward Karl as they drive?

3. After dinner, what does Karl realize he finds incomprehensible?

4. What are the "gilded caryatids" on the door outside the office (10)?

5. How old is Karl when the narrative opens?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Karl discover about Mak on his trip to the Pollunder home?

2. How does Green's intervention keep Karl from getting back to New York on the same night he left?

3. What analogy does Jakob draw between Karl and a newborn baby?

4. Explain how Karl's inability to keep track of his possessions causes complications in "The Stoker."

5. How does Schubal's manner when he enters the office tend to support the bursar's version of events?

6. How does Karl's uncle happen to be present on the ship that Karl sailed on?

7. How does Karl spend his time during his first weeks in New York?

8. What claims does the stoker make against Schubal?

9. Why is Karl so exhausted when the story opens?

10. Why is Karl on the ship?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Research more deeply into Kafka's works and the characteristic themes and motifs that critics have noted in them. Write an essay in which you situate Amerika in this context. Which of Kafka's other works do its motifs and themes echo? In what sense is this novel sui generis? How do its similarities to and differences from Kafka's other words demonstrate both the evolution of his thought and the persistence of ideas throughout his life? Use textual evidence to support your assertions, and be sure to cite all of your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

What does Amerika convey about the nature of authority? Does authority seem to change from Europe to America? Does its action seem to hinge on circumstances, personality, or both? Is Kafka's use of authority figures in pairs simply a structural device, or does this pairing reveal something about authority itself? Are Kafka's portrayals of authority meant to be funny, tragic, or both? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about Amerika's stance on authority. Defend your ideas with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

How do ambiguity and the grotesque work together to create atmosphere and mood in Amerika, and how do these effects contribute to the novel's overall meaning? What patterns of detail and language work together to create a sense of ambiguity? What patterns of detail and language work together to create a sense of the grotesque? In combination, what specific atmosphere and mood do ambiguity and the grotesque create in this novel? How do atmosphere and mood support a theme or themes in Amerika? Be sure to support your claims with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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