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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Into which of Yanek's limbs do the Nazis at Birkenau tattoo Yanek's prisoner number, B-3087?
2. When another train passes the train on which Yanek is riding in Chapter 15, Yanek discovers that his train is heading toward which concentration camp?
3. On the journey from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen, the first prisoners to die along the way according to Yanek are the prisoners without what?
4. The "Sachsenhausen salute" involves torturing a prisoner by forcing him to remain in what type of position for hours at a time without moving?
5. Including Yanek, how many prisoners are moved to the location that turns out to be a salt mine?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does the theme of collectivism arise within Yanek's arrival at Auschwitz?
2. At what point do Yanek and the other new arrivals to the Birkenau death camp realize that they have been spared for the moment?
3. What happens to Fred when he is unable to work?
4. Whose advice must Yanek ignore in order to make friends with Fred?
5. Discuss an instance when Gratz uses a literary device to indicate the preciousness of food.
6. Discuss an instance in the novel when Yanek's determination to survive is apparent.
7. For what reason does Fred become unable to work?
8. What small moment of triumph does Yanek experience during the transition from Auschwitz to another concentration camp?
9. What happens to the prisoner who is recognized by the others at the salt mine as a former member of the Judenrat?
10. What ominous warning does an SS guard give to Yanek as he enters Auschwitz?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
What messages does Gratz send about courage within the novel and what themes are employed in order to send these messages to the reader?
Essay Topic 2
Discuss Gratz’s use of metaphor, simile, imagery, and other literary devices as a means to send particular thematic messages within the narrative of Prisoner B-3087.
Essay Topic 3
William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Gratz’s novel Prisoner B-3087. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.
This section contains 1,176 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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