View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How is the Angellier house described?

2. What does Madame Angellier catch Lucile doing in regards to the German officer?

3. What is revealed about Lucile's husband that she feels indifferent about?

4. Who comes to the Angellier house to ask Bruno to recover some possessions from their house for them?

5. What does Lucile tell Madame Angellier that her son is hiding in Dijon?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the Germans have a party and what are the feelings of the French villagers about it?

2. Describe Bruno von Falk. What does the development of his character do in the novel in Chapters 3 and 4?

3. What happens between the Viscountess de Montmort and Benoit while the Viscountess is out on one of her nighttime walks?

4. Who does Gabriel Corte meet in the bar while at the luxury hotel, and what conclusion does he draw from being amongst these people?

5. What do Gabriel Corte and Florence do when they are shown to their rooms in the luxury hotel?

6. What is Benoit's attitude toward Madeleine's interest in things outside the farm and why?

7. How does Madame Angellier feel about her daughter-in-law, Lucile?

8. Why do the Perrin women come back to the village and pay a visit to the Angellier house?

9. What is the nature of the marriage between Lucile and Gaston Angellier?

10. How does Charlotte Pericand react when she sees Hubert and realizes that he is not dead?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nemirovsky does not launch into extensive descriptions of her characters but rather allows her characters to reveal their own personalities, as well as the relationships they have with other characters. How do the characters in the novel accomplish this? How do we learn about the characters through the action in the novel? What do we learn about the characters through their relationships with other characters? What does this do for the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Traumatic or challenging experiences often change a person and cause them to grow. However, that's not the case with everyone in this novel who has to go through the evacuation, war, and occupation. Pick a character that does not seem changed or affected by the challenging experiences that they are put through. Identify the character and describe their experiences. Why didn't this character experience any growth or change at all? Was this character not in need of a change? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Lucile Angellier and Bruno von Falk are young people falling in love under the worst circumstances imaginable. Lucile is a Frenchwoman, married to a French soldier prisoner of war, and Bruno is a German soldier, the enemy of the French. Describe the relationship between Lucile and Bruno. How is the relationship affected by the war? What are the difficulties and challenges they face after they realize that they are in love with one another? Why is a relationship between the two impossible and how does their friendship end?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,311 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample