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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. Where does Van hear Ada say "chort" or "devil"?

2. What word does the person who left the note in Van's jacket use for "dupe"?

3. What does Blanche tell Van?

4. Why does the governess decide to stay in bed for five days?

5. What is the Andalusian architect Alonso supposed to design?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Van first see Ada?

2. How does young Van feel about Ada?

3. What does Ada have to do before she can go off and meet Van in private in Chapter 20?

4. What do Demon think of Marina's career as an actress?

5. How does Van feel about Marina?

6. What does Blanche look like as she is ready to leave?

7. What is the first trick Ada and Van use to escape from Lucette?

8. How does Ada act when she tells stories at the table?

9. What reason does Van give Marina for leaving?

10. How does Lucette want to draw flowers, when her sister is trying to teach her to draw?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the structure of the novel.

1) What role does each of the five parts of the novel play? How does each represent a specific period in the relationship of Ada and Van, and how are those periods different from each other?

2) Why is the first book the longest? Why is the fourth book a single chapter?

3) In what ways is the structure chronological? How and why does it break out of chronological order?

Essay Topic 2

Nabokov is known for wordplay, and part of this is using significant names or manipulating names. Discuss the names of characters and places in the novel.

1) What meanings are put onto the characters' names by their association with other words? For example, what do Demon, Aqua, and Marina's names mean? What meanings are put on "Ada" and "Van"?

2) Discuss the name of Ardis Hall and what meanings and associations it has in the novel.

3) How do characters' names change in different contexts? What do these name changes signify?

Essay Topic 3

Van and Ada part bitterly after 1888 because of jealousy, and jealousy plays an important role in their relationship. Discuss jealousy in the novel.

1) Why is Van so jealous of Ada's other sexual relationships, when he is also sexually active without her? How is Ada jealous of Van?

2) How is Lucette jealous of Ada? How does her jealousy affect and define her relationships with Van and with Ada?

3) What other jealousies exist in the novel? How do the different characters respond to and think of jealousy?

(see the answer keys)

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