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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. Why does the narrator go into the grocery shop again after taking the extra change?

2. What part of the narrator's body is injured when he is hit by the cart?

3. How does the narrator see Ylayali when she reaches her hand out to him as he leaves?

4. What reason does the narrator give for abandoning his chance at warm lodgings?

5. What does the landlady ask the narrator to look over?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe how the narrator leaves Ylayali's apartment.

2. Who lives in the family room?

3. A few days later, why is the narrator still sleeping in the family room?

4. What happens to the narrator that makes him aware of his mental sluggishness?

5. How does the narrator act towards Ylayali once they are upstairs?

6. Why do Ylayali and the narrator go up to her apartment?

7. What ails the narrator at the start of Part 3?

8. Why exactly does the narrator refuse the Chief's offer of an advance?

9. Why is the captain of the Copégoro reluctant to hire the narrator, and what is his compromise?

10. How does Queeny say he knows Ylayali?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the book's chronological setting. What were the main social concerns of that period in Europe, and how do they relate to the narrator's experience? How would the story change if it were set today?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the values of the late 1800s. In what way are the characters products of their time? Does the book express the changes in either Norway or America at the time?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the portrayal of policemen in the novel. In what way does the author show a favorable attitude towards civil authority? What does this reveal about Knut Hamsun's own views?

(see the answer keys)

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