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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 apparently affectionate gesture does Pollunder make toward Karl as they drive?

2. What articles of Pollunder's clothing fascinate Karl?

3. What makes Karl feel better about the early hour at which he has to get up for his riding lessons?

4. Who is the author of Amerika?

5. What do Karl and Klara get into a fight about after dinner?

Short Essay Questions

1. What bizarre interaction does Karl have with Klara after dinner?

2. Describe Karl's first vision of the Statue of Liberty.

3. How does Green's intervention keep Karl from getting back to New York on the same night he left?

4. What claims does the stoker make against Schubal?

5. What does Karl discover about Mak on his trip to the Pollunder home?

6. How does Schubal's manner when he enters the office tend to support the bursar's version of events?

7. How does Karl spend his time during his first weeks in New York?

8. What is so fascinating to Karl about the desk in his room?

9. Explain how Karl's inability to keep track of his possessions causes complications in "The Stoker."

10. In what way is Karl's experience in the Pollunder house similar to his experience onboard the ship?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Karl's trunk represent his ambivalence about his parents, and what role have they played in creating this ambivalence? Write an essay in which you consider the trunk's provenance, its contents, its role in the novel's plot, and what Karl's treatment of the trunk reveals. Offer textual evidence from throughout the novel in support of your assertions.

Essay Topic 2

Research more deeply into Kafka's works and the characteristic themes and motifs that critics have noted in them. Write an essay in which you situate Amerika in this context. Which of Kafka's other works do its motifs and themes echo? In what sense is this novel sui generis? How do its similarities to and differences from Kafka's other words demonstrate both the evolution of his thought and the persistence of ideas throughout his life? Use textual evidence to support your assertions, and be sure to cite all of your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that compares and contrasts Amerika's relationship to the bildungsroman and to the picaresque. Does Kafka seem to intend to parody both? If yes, does he do so with equal clarity? Is his treatment of one tradition more respectful than the other? How does the echo of these traditions impact your understanding of the novel's meaning? Cite evidence from throughout the story as you defend your interpretation of how these two traditions are referenced in Amerika.

(see the answer keys)

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