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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. Although Karl thinks that Jakob indulges him generously, what does the narrative imply is true about Jakob's behavior toward Karl?

2. In the story's opening, what does Karl realize he has left below deck?

3. According to the stoker, when is it most likely that a person would become a stoker?

4. Which is the most accurate description of the stoker's room?

5. When Karl calls Klara a "wild cat," what technique is being used?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. When the attendant tells the stoker to get out of the office, what does Karl do?

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

6. What analogy does Jakob draw between Karl and a newborn baby?

7. What conclusions has Karl already come to about America when the second chapter opens, and why?

8. What does Karl imagine about his parents when he is in the office with the stoker?

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

10. How does Karl's uncle happen to be present on the ship that Karl sailed on?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about the symbolic value of the sword held by Lady Liberty in the opening paragraph of Amerika. As you formulate your idea about the sword's meaning, consider questions like the following: How does the symbol relate to Kafka's perceptions of America? What historical lens did Kafka view this country through? How does the symbol relate to a long tradition of European art? What impact would the sword have on a reader acquainted with this tradition? How does the idea of America itself contrast with old European traditions like this? Be sure to support your ideas with textual evidence from throughout the novel, and if you use outside sources, credit these in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Some critical approaches to Amerika consider Karl to be a kind of "genderless" character. Does your reading of the text support or challenge this interpretation? Write an essay that takes and defends a position about Karl's gender performance and its meaning. Support your assertions with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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