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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 first thing Green discusses with the group during dinner at the Pollunder house?

2. When Schubal enters the office, what is he wearing?

3. Why are Karl and Jakob confused when Pollunder shows up to take Karl home with him?

4. What does Klara say she would like Karl to do for her?

5. To what city does Green want to send Karl?

Short Essay Questions

1. What details portray the women in the ship's kitchen as boldly flirtatious?

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

3. Why is Karl on the ship?

4. Why is Karl so exhausted when the story opens?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Kafka saying about America through the motif of automation? Where are the most prominent images of automation? Are they all literal, or are there also figurative images of automation? How does this automation both attract and repel Karl? Is the audience meant to feel this same ambivalence? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position on the meaning of automation in Amerika. Use textual evidence from throughout the novel in support of your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze how Kafka's humor in Amerika reflects David Foster Wallace's commentary in "Laughing with Kafka." Establish the claims that Foster Wallace makes in his speech. Then, use quoted and paraphrased evidence from Kafka's text to support your analysis of the humor in Amerika and whether it does or does not support Foster Wallace's assertions. Cite evidence from both texts 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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