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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 subject does Luzhin prefer for his artistic efforts?

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

3. Why does Mrs. Luzhin avoid mentioning large cities when talking of traveling?

4. What does Luzhin remember about his French governess?

5. What is the one thing Luzhin finds wrong with the old jacket he begs his wife to let him keep?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Luzhin react to the parties of intellectuals that his wife entertains?

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

5. How does Luzhin's fiancee feel about their new apartment as she furnishes it?

6. How does Luzhin read?

7. What are Mrs. Luzhin's political opinions about the Soviet Union?

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

9. How to Kurt and Karl know where to send Luzhin in the taxi?

10. How does Luzhin act in the days before his wedding?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss marriage in the novel.

1) How does Luzhin's parent's marriage play out? What example of marriage does Luzhin have as a child?

2) Why does Luzhin marry? What does he expect from marriage? What does his wife expect from marriage? What do others expect from their marriage?

3) What other examples of marriage are there in the novel? What is Luzhin's wife's parents' marriage like? What does the novel say about marriage in general?

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 art and reflections of reality in the novel.

1) How is Luzhin's father's writing a reflection of reality? How is it a projection of his father's desires, a world of wish fulfillment? How does his writing compare to reality?

2) How do Luzhin's drawings reflect reality, and how do they reflect his perception of reality?

3) How is Luzhin's chess playing an art, and how is it not an art? How does it relate and compare to music? How does it reflect reality? How does it show Luzhin's perception of reality and his own wish fulfillment?

(see the answer keys)

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