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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 is more drunk, Kurt or Gunther?

2. What does Luzhin listen to as he lies awake at night?

3. Who is taken off in the taxi cab?

4. What else seems odd about Luzhin's old jacket, when Luzhin is trying it on?

5. What does everyone mistake Luzhin's drawing of oranges for?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Mrs. Luzhin find it difficult to locate her husband at the ball?

2. What is Mrs. Luzhin reminded of when she reads Soviet newspapers?

3. What books that his fiancee brings him in the sanatorium does Luzhin enjoy?

4. What does Luzhin's psychiatrist ask him about?

5. What does Luzhin's psychiatrist say about the possibility of him marrying?

6. What word keeps going through Mrs. Luzhin's mind on her wedding night, and what does it mean?

7. What does Luzhin think when the lights come on again after Ivan has knocked over the lamp?

8. At the ball, how does Mrs. Luzhin compare the movie actresses to her husband in her mind?

9. How does Luzhin kill himself?

10. What does Valentinov want Luzhin to do for him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the intellectual versus the social in the novel.

1) How does Luzhin fit into the intellectual world? How does he fit into the social world? How do these two worlds conflict?

2) How does Luzhin's wife fit into the intellectual and social worlds in the novel? How does this affect their relationship?

3) How does Luzhin's father fit into the intellectual an social worlds in the novel? How does this affect their relationship?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the point of view of the novel.

1) What insight does the reader gain into Luzhin's character through seeing his point of view that other characters are blind to?

2) Why does the author choose to show the points of view that he does at the times that he does? Why does the author show us Luzhin's father's point of view, his wife's point of view, and his mother-in-law's point of view? What insights do these shifts in point of view give the reader?

3) What characters' points of view are not included in the novel? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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