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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. Who does Luzhin play chess with at his aunt's house?

2. How many games does it take before Luzhin's opponent begins having difficulty beating him?

3. At the end of Chapter 8, where is Luzhin trying to go?

4. When Luzhin's family arrives in the city, where does Luzhin run off to?

5. When Luzhin's father goes to write a book about a boy like his son, what is the first scene that occurs to him?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Luzhin watches the chess game between his classmates, what move excites him?

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

3. What does Luzhin resent while he is working on a puzzle?

4. What ability does Luzhin compare his ability to read chess notation with?

5. What problem does Luzhin have getting to his game with his final rival?

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

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

8. What authors does Luzhin like to read?

9. How does Luzhin feel about playing chess blind?

10. How doe Luzhin's fiancee seem like a dream to him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Luzhin is a master chess player. Discuss chess in the novel.

1) When Luzhin sees a chess board, the pieces are just placeholders. He perceives something entirely abstract behind the board. What is it that Luzhin perceives? Why is it appealing to him? What does his relationship with chess show about his personality?

2) Near the end of the novel, Luzhin sees his life as a chess game. How is his life like a game of chess? Who is his opponent? What is he attempting to win? How does the chess analogy show how Luzhin is perceiving his world and his limitations in perceiving the world?

3) Why does Luzhin feel the need to hide his love for chess? In what ways is Luzhin ambivalent about chess? Is chess truly deadly unhealthy for Luzhin, as his psychiatrist says?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the relationships of parents and children in the novel.

1) How does Luzhin relate to his father? How does this relationship affect Luzhin throughout his life? How does this relationship evoke the relationship of Luzhin's father and grandfather?

2) What do parents expect from their children in the novel? What does Luzhin's father expect from him? What about his mother? What do Luzhin's wife's parents expect from her?

3) How do parents and children feel about each other? Do they love each other? What other emotions are related to parents and children?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss fulfillment in the novel.

1) What motivates characters to pursue the activities they pursue? What motivates Luzhin? What motivates his wife?

2) Where do characters in the novel find fulfillment? Are any of the characters successful in feeling fulfilled?

3) What prevents fulfillment? How do characters perceive others' desires for or quests for fulfillment? How do characters conflict over what makes them fill fulfilled?

(see the answer keys)

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