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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. While wandering in the woods, what is Michael's epiphany?

2. How old is Hanna?

3. To whom does Michael try to talk about his feelings regarding his epiphany about Hanna with?

4. What happens to the narrator after he takes a bath?

5. In Chapter 15, what does Sophie ask Michael?

Short Essay Questions

1. As described in Chapter 10, where is Michael when he has an epiphany about Hanna? What is the epiphany, and how does Michael realize it?

2. How does Michael "betray" Hanna, as he explains in Chapter 15?

3. Describe the encounter between Frau Schmitz and the narrator in Chapter 6.

4. In Part 2, Chapter 4, how does Michael compare the trial to being a prisoner in a death camp?

5. Describe the only time Michael sees Hanna by chance, in Chapter 16.

6. Describe how Michael becomes involved in the court and Hanna's trial, as it is told in Part 2, Chapter 2.

7. What does Michael do, in Chapter 17, when he realizes Hanna has disappeared?

8. Describe the Frau Schmitz's apartment.

9. Describe the memory the narrator discusses in Chapter 7, when he is four years old. Why is it significant?

10. What makes Frau (Hanna) Schmitz so angry in Chapter 8?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Hanna's actions on the night of the church bombing say about her character? Or her behavior while being questioned by the judge? Is Hanna a sympathetic character? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 1, Chapter 5 Michael says that he recognizes a life pattern in himself, and that "often enough in my life I have done things I had not decided to do." What does Michael mean by this? Describe and give examples of the disconnect Michael feels between making a decision and completing an action. How does this act as a foreshadowing of Michael's later behavior?

Essay Topic 3

In the last chapter of the novel Michael talks about freeing himself from the story of he and Hanna. How has Michael's guilt changed from the initial stages of their relationship to after Hanna's death? How might writing their story free Michael from that guilt? Can he ever be free? Why or why not? How does Michael "make peace" with their story?

(see the answer keys)

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