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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. In Chapter 15, where does Dr. Saito tell Julius he is ready to go?

2. How old does Julius say he was when his driver hit and killed a girl?

3. What does Julius forget to take to his appointment with his accountant in Chapter 13?

4. Who is in the shop Julius stop into in Chinatown in Chapter 16?

5. How does Julius characterize his feeling when he is watching the marching band in Chinatown in Chapter 16?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Julius describe the beating he suffered at the hands of the two youth?

2. How does Julius respond when Moji tells Julius that she has never forgotten him sexually assaulting her when they were students?

3. How is Julius affected by V.’s death?

4. What is the vision Julius has while he is sitting in the park, watching the starlings?

5. What is Julius’ relationship like with the character he never names, but simply calls “my friend” (179)?

6. Why has Julius missed Dr. Saito’s death?

7. What is the leap in time and setting that has taken place between chapters 20 and 21?

8. How does Julius say that he reacted when he saved the boy’s life who had been about to drown?

9. What does the monument to the negro burial ground make Julius think about the reality of people in the past?

10. Chapter 11 marks the end of “Part 1: Death is a perfection of the eye.” In what way is this title appropriate to the first 11 chapters?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Would you recommend Open City to a friend? What kind of friend would you recommend Open City to? What kind of friend would you not recommend this book to? What does this distinction tell you about the qualities of the novel itself? What does it tell you about your own critical values?

Essay Topic 2

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the style Cole uses for this novel? What does Cole gain by Julius’ impressions being so egalitarian? What does he lose by constantly changing focus, from one scene to the next, without building the kinds of personal drama we expect in a novel? How is this style fitted to the themes of Julius’ interests? Does it ultimately weigh in the book’s favor, or is its style an obstacle to the book’s meaning?

Essay Topic 3

How are women represented in Open City? What roles do they play, and how does Julius and other men in the novel treat them? What does Julius’ and others’ treatment of women tell us about Teju Cole’s values as an author or about the fictional universe he has created?

(see the answer keys)

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