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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 is the weather like the morning after K. arrives?

2. What does K. hope to ask Klamm for, when he meets with him?

3. Why does the landlady say that Frieda never received gifts from Klamm?

4. What does K. learn about Klamm's whereabouts?

5. Who does K. say is the only person with authority to fire him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What use does Frieda think the position offered to K. might serve?

2. What impression does Frieda make when K. first meets her?

3. What does K. believe is the reason that Hans and his family never received favors from Klamm?

4. What does K. call Artur and Jeremias and why?

5. How does K. feel in the village?

6. What does Klamm look like?

7. How does K. feel at the end of Chapter VIII?

8. What happens between K. and the assistants after Frieda gets up in the middle of the night at the school?

9. What happens when K. first wakes up the morning after meeting Frieda?

10. How does the chairman's wife act during K.'s visit?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, the motivations of people are often open to question. Discuss the significance of the ambiguity of characters' motivations.

1) Are K.'s motivations clear? What are his possible motivations for being with Frieda? Do his motivations make a difference? What do you think of K.'s argument that his motivations don't necessarily matter?

2) What are conflicting reports of Frieda's motivations? How ambiguous are her motives? How important is it that other people can't necessarily ever fully understand her motivations?

3) How does the obscurity of the workings of the Castle compare to the obscurity of the motives of the characters?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the role of women in THE CASTLE.

1) What role does Amalia play in the novel? What is her role as a woman in the village's culture? How does she defy that role, and what are the consequences?

2) What role does Frieda play in the novel? Does she use her gender to gain a social advantage? How does the culture promote that behavior?

3) What role does the landlady play in the novel? What does her position say about the role of women in the society?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the role of social rules and pressure in THE CASTLE.

1) How does the community impose unwritten laws in THE CASTLE?

2) What are the consequences of defying unwritten laws in THE CASTLE? How do the consequences differ for K. and for Amalia's family?

3) What are the benefits and drawbacks of social conformity in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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