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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Zdena feel about Zemanek?
(a) She is impartial to him.
(b) She worships him.
(c) She loathes him.
(d) She likes him enough to get by.

2. What did Zemanek give Helena, his most favorite possession, as a gesture of reconciliation?
(a) A locket with Stalin's picture on it.
(b) A locket with Helena's picture on it.
(c) A locket with a picture of the Kremlin on it.
(d) A locket with Zemanek's picture on it.

3. Where did Zemanek go at the beginning of part two?
(a) Prague.
(b) Bratislava.
(c) Brno.
(d) Moravia.

4. Ludvik asks Kostka for a recommendation for what service?
(a) A store that sells liquor.
(b) A decent dinner.
(c) Entertainment for the evening.
(d) A shave.

5. Where does Kostka live?
(a) He has a room in the hospital.
(b) In the same hotel Ludvik is staying in.
(c) A bachelor flat in a new complex.
(d) A two-room flat in another town 30 miles away.

Short Answer Questions

1. Kostka hopes that Ludvik will use his flat for what?

2. How does Ludvik feel about the differences between himself and Kostka?

3. Who narrates part three of "The Joke"?

4. When Marketa and Ludvik reunite at University, how does Marketa act?

5. Though Ludvik claims to not be a big lover of poetry, he carried three books of poetry with him. Who was the poet that authored these books?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Kostka's bachelor pad like?

2. What were the common criticisms given to students at University in the Party? Ludvik describes them as "seeds" that all the students carried with them, to be used against themselves at a moment's notice.

3. What was Helena's first meeting with Ludvik like, according to Helena?

4. Describe Ludvik's hotel room in Moravia.

5. What happens during Ludvik's shave that changes the experience for him, and how does Ludvik react to the rest of his shave?

6. Describe Moravia as Ludvik sees it upon his return at the beginning of "The Joke".

7. How does Helena feel about younger women?

8. How is Ludvik received by the dark Slovak NCO who got a first at marksmanship?

9. How is Ludvik's attitude immediately following his move to Ostrava?

10. What is the relationship between Kostka and Ludvik like?

(see the answer keys)

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