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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. What happens to Jaromil's uncle?
(a) He is charged with fraud and imprisoned.
(b) He leaves his wife to hide in a remote village.
(c) He contracts pneumonia and dies.
(d) He is charged with being an enemy of the state and imprisoned.

2. Why had Jaromil not known about the film about his life?
(a) He was too caught up in the redhead to notice.
(b) The cinematographer was not comfortable having Jaromil deeply involved.
(c) Maman was subtly hoping the film would actually be about her.
(d) Maman had wanted it to be a surprise.

3. At the beginning of Part 6, Chapter 1, what does Kundera do with the story?
(a) Dismisses Jaromil as an unimportant character.
(b) Moves the point of observation to another character.
(c) Makes Maman the main character of the story.
(d) Begins to intersperse his prose with lots of poetry.

4. How does the film begin?
(a) With Maman recounting childhood memories with Jaromil.
(b) With pictures of Jaromil as a child.
(c) With Jaromil reciting his most famous poem.
(d) With a home recording of Jaromil as a child.

5. Why is Jaromil not jealous when he considers the redhead in the hands of the policemen?
(a) He knows that her love for him will never waver.
(b) Once she is gone, he no longer cares about her.
(c) She is his creation and therefore belongs only to him.
(d) He has deep faith that the policemen will never hurt her.

Short Answer Questions

1. When does Jaromil feel that the girl belongs to him completely?

2. The night of the party, what does Maman realize about the cinematographer?

3. How long has it been since the middle-aged man saw the girl who rang his doorbell?

4. While walking with the redhead one day, whom does Jaromil see?

5. According to Jaromil, how do socialism and love interact?

Short Essay Questions

1. After a period of estrangement from Maman, why is Jaromil ready to make peace with her? How do the two of them have very different perceptions of this reconciliation?

2. How is the girl a different person from when she went into the prison? How is she more like Jaromil had been?

3. What does the middle-aged man tell the girl about Jaromil? How is this story the opposite of what Jaromil ever wanted?

4. When Jaromil is angry at the redhead for being fifteen minutes late, what change ensues in their relationship? How does this mark a turning point in Jaromil's development as a person?

5. Near the end of the book, Xavier betrays Jaromil by leaving him behind. What is the significance of this scene?

6. What is Maman's opinion about the redheaded girl? How does her reaction perpetuate the cycle of her own relationship with Jaromil?

7. How does the author insert his own thoughts into Part 6, Chapter 1? What effect does this have on this entire part?

8. As it is painfully revealed in Part 5, Chapters 4 - 6, why do Maman and Jaromil struggle to live together? What does this say about their relationship as mother and son?

9. What arguments do Jaromil and the redhead have concerning their families? How does this illustrate Jaromil's juvenile mindset?

10. In planning the documentary about Jaromil's life, what do Maman and Jaromil reveal about themselves? What do they reveal about their relationship?

(see the answer keys)

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