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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. Surviving the initial selection at Auschwitz, Kovály is assigned what work?

2. What do most of Kovály's friends offer her when she visits?

3. How is Russia portrayed to the Czech people?

4. Who is Mrs. Machova?

5. What is said to happen to people in Prague who harbor fugitives?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is said to have been the main topic of discussion for out of work Czechs after the war?

2. What is life like for Kovály in the ghetto?

3. How does Machova intervene when the Communists sent a team in to catalogue Kovály's possessions for later seizure?

4. What is contained in the note that Ruda sends Kovály after she settles in his apartment?

5. What happens when Czec soldiers will not let Kovaly leave becuase she does not have the correct paperwork?

6. What does an old friend in the country encourage Margolius to do?

7. What happens to Kovály's family at Auschwitz?

8. What is life like for Kovály as a slave laborer at Auschwitz?

9. How is Kovály treated differently at the hospital when it became known that her husband had been arrested?

10. After Margolius' arrest, what contributed to Kovály's bad health?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the motif of fear and terror in "Under A Cruel Star." Of what is Kovály and the citizens of Czechoslovakia fearful? How is their fear conveyed to others? How does Kovály experience the fear of others? How does this fear affect her? Who is terrorizing Czechoslovakia and why? How are they spreading terror?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the setting of the memoir "Under A Cruel Star." How does Kovály portray her native country and what are her feelings about it? What problems is Czechoslovakia faced with throughout the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the portrayal of the Nazi concentration camps in "Under A Cruel Star." What are some anecdotes that Kovály shares with the reader? What is Kovály's personal experience in the concentration camps like? How does she overcome this trying period in her life?

(see the answer keys)

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