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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 newspaper covers the walls of the narrator's apartment?

2. For what change does the editor ask in the sketch?

3. To what does the narrator compare the wastebasket in the editor's office?

4. What is the old man's profession?

5. What does the narrator say is the nicest object in his apartment?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator react to the organ-grinder's daughter's silence?

2. Why does the narrator think of his banker friend?

3. Why does the narrator give his banker friend his tie?

4. How does the narrator punish himself for nearly asking the editor for money?

5. What does the narrator find sitting on his bedside table when he returns to his old apartment?

6. Why do the two shopkeepers refuse the narrator money?

7. How does the narrator react to the old cripple walking in front of him?

8. Why does the narrator start crying?

9. What practical joke does the narrator decide to play on the passing policeman?

10. How do the policemen throughout the novel treat the narrator?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the values of the late 1800s. In what way are the characters products of their time? Does the book express the changes in either Norway or America at the time?

Essay Topic 2

The narrator's story is one of suffering. How does Knut Hamsun inject humor into the novel? How does the pace of the novel compare with the contents of the story? Do you think this is an effective literary device?

Essay Topic 3

Look at the structure of the book. How does the author drive the narrative? How does the book's structure express the book's themes?

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