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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 does the narrator owe Hans Pauli?

2. What does the narrator buy to settle his stomach?

3. What is on the menu at the Steam Kitchen?

4. Of what is Princess Ylayali's throne made?

5. For what reason does C. Zacharias Bartel think the narrator has visited him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the narrator's apartment at the beginning of the novel.

2. What story does the narrator tell the old man?

3. Describe the narrator's fantasy of Princess Ylayali's castle.

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

5. How has the narrator's poverty already been revealed to the reader?

6. Why does Mr. Christie reject the narrator?

7. Why is the narrator interested in the newspaper-wrapped package of the old man?

8. How does the narrator view the red rocking chair when he decides to leave his apartment for good?

9. Why is the narrator embarrassed by his blanket, and what does he do with it?

10. Why does the narrator decide to return to his old apartment?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the book's chronological setting. What were the main social concerns of that period in Europe, and how do they relate to the narrator's experience? How would the story change if it were set today?

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

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?

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