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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 is the Andalusian architect Alonso supposed to design?

2. Where was Van born?

3. What causes both Van and Ada to rush back to the house?

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

5. In what Manhattan landmark building did Dan propose to Marina in 1871?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the encounter between Blanche and Van.

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

4. What bad habit does Ana stop on her twelfth birthday?

5. How does Van circumvent the rules about what Ada is supposed to read from the library?

6. How doe Van describe Ada's way of talking when explaining something funny?

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

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

9. What reason does Van give Marina for leaving?

10. How does young Van feel about Ada?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As Van's memoir, the novel deals with memory. It also deals with memory through Van's discussion of time and its meaning. Discuss time and memory in the novel.

1) How is the story of Van and Ada's childhood changed by memory? What significance is there to the fact that the children's diaries were destroyed, forcing them to recreate the events from memory?

2) What role does memory plan in Van and Ada's feelings about each other why they are separated?

3) How does time affect the characters? How does Van's discussion of time relate to the characters' experiences?

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 Van as a character.

1) What drives Van's attraction to Ada? Why does he carry his obsession with her through long absences?

2) What is Van's perception of women? How does he treat them, and what role do they play in his life?

3) What is Van's perception of himself? How is he a "vain Veen"?

4) Discuss Van's work as a writer and psychologist. Why does he choose this work? Why does he write the books he writes, and what contributes to his philosophy?

(see the answer keys)

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