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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. How does Luzhin hurt himself during the chess game with Turati?

2. What city does the family live in?

3. What is Luzhin's problem in school?

4. On the first game that Luzhin's opponent doesn't beat him, what is the result?

5. How does Luzhin usually travel to school?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Luzhin's future wife when he meets her in Germany.

2. Who does Luzhin nearly run into on the first day he skips school?

3. How does Luzhin's father feel when he finally hears that his son is a prodigy?

4. What authors does Luzhin like to read?

5. How does Luzhin senior's wife react when he has to go to town for the day?

6. What is on Luzhin's father's mind during his first chess games with his son?

7. How is Luzhin affected by spectators at his chess games?

8. How does Luzhin's future wife feel about introducing him to her family?

9. What happens when Luzhin is found hiding in his family's house at the end of Chapter 1?

10. What does Luzhin ask his fiancee to do, on the second day she comes to his Berlin chess tournament?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Luzhin is only known by his family name throughout most of the novel, and other major characters are never named at all. Discuss the use of names in the novel.

1) Why is Luzhin only known by his family name throughout the novel? Why is his personal name revealed at the end of the novel?

2) Why are the characters closest to Luzhin, like his wife, never named?

3) Why are characters who are relatively unimportant, like guests at a party or people the Luzhins run into on the street, given names? What does this show about the author's perspective?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the portrayal of women in the novel.

1) What is Luzhin's mother like? How does she represent women in the novel? How does she compare with Luzhin's aunt?

2) What is Luzhin's wife like? How does she represent women in the novel? What are her priorities and abilities?

3) How are minor women characters portrayed in the novel? What do women, in general, seem to be like in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss obsession in the novel.

1) Why is Luzhin obsessed with chess? Is this unhealthy, as his psychiatrist suggests?

2) What are other characters' obsessions? Does Luzhin's father have an obsession? Does his wife have one? What about other characters?

3) Can Luzhin's obsession be broken? Should it be?

(see the answer keys)

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