Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. When the redhead is fifteen minutes late, what is the first excuse she gives Jaromil?
2. What contest does the party guest suggest to Jaromil?
3. In the cinematographer's apartment, what happens?
4. At the beginning of Part 6, Chapter 1, what does Kundera do with the story?
5. While walking with the redhead one day, whom does Jaromil see?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does the author insert his own thoughts into Part 6, Chapter 1? What effect does this have on this entire part?
2. Near the end of the book, Xavier betrays Jaromil by leaving him behind. What is the significance of this scene?
3. 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?
4. What are Jaromil's hopes for the two women in his life? What does this show about his understanding of both women?
5. What happens when Jaromil recites his poems to the audience of police members? How does this compare to the hopes he has had?
6. In planning the documentary about Jaromil's life, what do Maman and Jaromil reveal about themselves? What do they reveal about their relationship?
7. What arguments do Jaromil and the redhead have concerning their families? How does this illustrate Jaromil's juvenile mindset?
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. "History does not always make a dramatic entrance, it often seeps through every-day life like dirty dishwater. In our story, History makes its appearance in the guise of underwear" (Part 5, Chapter 8, pg 239). What does this mean in the context of Jaromil's story?
10. 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?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Does the story of Xavier's time in the yellow house border on the fantastic? What makes the story plausible and what makes it fantastical?
Essay Topic 2
Kundera admits that the novel has the same limitations as reality (Part 6, Chapter 1, pg 269). What does this mean? How does this play out in the lives of the characters? What is the effect of speaking so candidly to the reader?
Essay Topic 3
Find examples of older people in love with younger. How does this fit the Freudian theme of Jaromil with his mother? What is the significance in the fact that Xavier cannot undress the old woman?
|
This section contains 1,871 words (approx. 7 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
