View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What causes Eberthella Brown to spill her coffee?

2. What is Lucette studying in 1892?

3. What type of fur coat does Ada wear?

4. What symptom causes Andrey to go to the doctor?

5. What day does Ada's husband die?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Cordula's conversation like?

2. What were the reviews of Van's first book like?

3. What does Cordula tell Van about Vanda Broom?

4. What exercise in memory does Van attempt, which he also gives to his patients?

5. How does Demon discover that Van is living with Ada?

6. In Marina's last days, why is Van planning a trip to America?

7. What metaphor does Van use for trying to understand time?

8. What does Lucette say about Ada's hands?

9. How does Van respond to Ada's arrival?

10. When Ada telephones Van, what does she tell him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss madness in the novel.

1) What is Aqua's madness in the novel? Why does she go from sanitarium to sanitarium, and why does she kill herself?

2) What types of madness do Van's patients display? Why do mad patients see visions of Terra in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Terra and Antiterra in the novel.

1) Why does the author set the novel in an alternative reality, an "Antiterra"? What role does the imaginary planet, a mirror of our "real" world, play in the novel?

2) How do the characters envision Terra? What do their perceptions of Terra show about the characters themselves?

3) How do Terra and Antiterra differ? Compare the two worlds of the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the mental and physical worlds in the novel.

1) How does the mental world of Van's intellectual investigations and books relate to the physical world around him?

2) How does Van's mental relationship with Ada relate to their physical relationship?

3) How does the balance of mind and body, mental and physical change over time, as Van ages?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 687 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample