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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. The young woman in the Court Offices tells K. in “In the Empty Conference Hall – The Student – The Offices,” “We, that is the staff here, decided that the information clerk, who is constantly dealing with the public and is their first contact with the court, ought to be given” what?

2. Which of the guards being thrashed says he has a family to feed in “The Thrasher”?

3. What does K. say repeatedly to the woman and man who help him out of the Court Offices in “In the Empty Conference Hall – The Student – The Offices”?

4. How many messengers are said to still be “working in dispatch in the little circle from a lamp” at K.’s offices in the beginning of “The Thrasher” as he leaves work?

5. K. tells the guards who are to be thrashed in “The Thrasher,” “I didn’t complain, I just said what had happened in my apartment. And your behavior wasn’t exactly” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the weather described on the day K. goes to find the courthouse in “The First Hearing”? How is K.’s demeanor?

2. What is Josef K.’s central plight in “The Arrest”? How does he go about achieving his goal?

3. Where does the Usher lead K. in “In the Empty Conference Hall – The Student – The Offices”? How is this setting described?

4. How are the Examining Magistrate’s books described in “In the Empty Conference Hall – The Student – The Offices”? What happens to the Usher’s Wife in the chapter?

5. What does Willem say of his and Franz’s careers prior to K.’s accusations in “The Thrasher”?

6. How is K.’s resistance to the system perceived in “In the Empty Conference Hall – The Student – The Offices”?

7. Where do Franz and Willem take K. in “The Arrest”? Why?

8. What is K. doing in the opening of “The Arrest”? How does the narrator describe the reason for his arrest in this chapter?

9. How is the atmosphere of the setting described in “In the Empty Conference Hall – The Student – The Offices”?

10. What is K.’s reaction to the invitation given him by the Deputy Manager in “The First Hearing”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the characters of Uncle Karl and Erna in the narrative. What relationship did K. have with his uncle growing up? What does K.’s uncle learn from Erna regarding K.’s trial? How does Uncle Karl feel about K.’s trial?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the character of the Examining Magistrate in “The First Hearing.” What is this character’s power within the courtroom? How does the Examining Magistrate greet K.? What does this character represent symbolically in the story?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the characters of Franz and Willem in the novel. Why does K. attempt to save Franz and Willem from the Thrasher? How have the demeanors of these characters changed since their initial introduction in “The Arrest”? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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