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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 do Kristyna and the person she meets do?

2. What turns off the student about Kristyna when she arrives?

3. Why does Hugo take Tamina to the zoo?

4. How is Tamina's situation similar to her husband's when he was ill?

5. How does the student feel as he returns home?

Short Essay Questions

1. To what do Kristyna and the student agree and what is the outcome? What does the student's evaluation of Kristyna tell the reader?

2. What is the relationship of litost to romantic love in general and specifically in relation to Kristyna and the student?

3. Why do you think Kundera blurs historical moments?

4. Where does Tamina go with Raphael?

5. Why is Tamina losing herself and why does she think the notebooks will help her situation?

6. What happens to permanently silence Tamina?

7. How are the Czechs and litost related in Kundera's opinion?

8. What happens to Kundera's father in Part 6 and what do you think is the significance of Kundera writing about what happens to his father?

9. Who does Kristyna meet and what attracts her to this person?

10. How is Tamina's eventual suicide symbolic?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Part 4, we learn that shortly after her husband's death, Tamina swallows a bottle of prescription pills and swims out into the sea. Rather than become sleepy and sink, she instead becomes revitalized and finds a treasured silence within her. She comes back to shore and continues to live. Discuss the following:

1. Is Tamina performing an act of forgetting or remembering by her suicide attempt?

2. What do you think is the silence Tamina finds within herself? Do you think it is a positive thing? Why or why not?

3. When Tamina comes back to shore and continues to live, what do you think is the quality of her life? Explain with details from the text.

Essay Topic 2

In Part 3, "The Angels," laughter is discussed and analyzed at great length. Discuss the following:

1. Compare and contrast the different types of laughter discussed in Part III.

2. Which types of laughter could be labeled "good" or "uplifting"? Explain.

3. Which types of laughter could be labeled "bad" or "harmful"? Explain fully.

Essay Topic 3

In Part 2, "Mama," when Marketa learns of Karel's next date with a mistress, both she and Karel are angry. Discuss the following:

1. Discuss why you think both Karel and Marketa are angry.

2. How strong can a relationship be if both feel the need to have sexual liaisons with someone else? Explain fully.

3. Do you think Marketa and Karel's relationship can be salvaged? Explain fully.

(see the answer keys)

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