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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 Julius think about doing in the boat basin behind the World Financial Center?

2. What kind of luck does Julius have in finding his oma while in Brussels?

3. How does Julius describe sex with this tourist whose name he does not know?

4. What is Julius’ status in the hospital?

5. What does Julius say explains the sense of hermeticism in the paintings of John Brewster?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Julius explain his split with Nadège?

2. How does Julius react to the waitress who brings him his coffee in the café in Grand Sablon?

3. What kind of trip does Julius make to Brussels?

4. What does Julius say his work requires of him, and what does he say he enjoys about it?

5. Who is V. and what is her relationship with Julius?

6. What theme emerges in the clothing Julius notices on the people all around him in his wanderings through the city at the beginning of Chapter 4?

7. What does Julius contemplate doing when he thinks about his patient, M., at the boat basin behind the World Financial Center?

8. At the book's beginning, why does the narrator says that he goes for long walks?

9. What does Julius say his relationship with his mother is like?

10. What political controversy is playing out when Julius arrives in Brussels?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Teju Cole’s novel Open City was published in 2011. How does it apply to today’s political and artistic world? What parts feel dated? What parts feel contemporary? What current cultural discussions can Open City contribute to? What does the novel say, in those conversations?

Essay Topic 2

The surprise revelation that Julius had raped Moji as a child puts the reader in the position of revising his or her estimation of Julius’ narrative, and revisit the narrative for evidence that would exonerate or condemn Julius. This basically constitutes a second reading of the book. How do you respond to this impetus? Do you want to go back and figure him out? Is Julius a puzzle you want to resolve? Or are there things about Julius or about the novel that make you hesitant or even unwilling to invest the work in figuring him out? What makes you want to figure him out? What makes you want to leave him and his mystery to themselves?

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate your own reading of Open City—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

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