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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 gymnastic trick does Van help Lucette do?

2. Where do Ada and Van go, where Van compares Ada's body to the girlish body of the past?

3. What feature of Ada does Van most delight in?

4. What does Van's father offer to try to buy for him?

5. Does Ada promise to be faithful while Van is gone?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does young Van feel about Ada?

2. How does Van feel about Marina?

3. What did Ada do when Dr. Krolik died?

4. What causes Lucette to follow Ada and Van around in Chapter 34?

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

6. How does Dick cheat at cards, and how does Van best him?

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

8. What reason does Van give Marina for leaving?

9. What are the rules of marriage among relatives that Van and Ada discuss?

10. What does Marina chastise Van for, after calling him into her room?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel follows Van and Ada from their youth through their old age. Discuss aging in the novel.

1) How does Van change throughout his life? Are his physical changes separable from his mental and emotional changes?

2) How do the characters' values and priorities change over time? What is important to them in their youth and as they grow older?

3) How do the characters' perceptions of the world around them and of their own relationship change as they age?

4) What meaning does the approach of death have for Van and Ada?

Essay Topic 2

Compare Lucette and Ada's characters in the novel.

1) What role does the age difference between Lucette and Ada play in their similarities and differences?

2) How doe Van love Lucette? How is this different from the way he loves Ada? Why?

3) What are Lucette and Ada's feelings for each other? What does this show about their personalities, values, and beliefs?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss vanity in the novel.

1) Van is described in the novel as vain. Does Van love himself more than any other? Is he proud? What characterizes his vanity?

2) Is Van's vanity an essential element of his attraction to Ada? Is he attracted to her because of her similarities to himself?

3) What role does Van's vanity play in his career? How does it relate to his acrobatic show? How does it relate to his psychological/philosophical books?

(see the answer keys)

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