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

2. How does Karl feel when he realizes that the stoker could probably physically overpower everyone in the office?

3. When Karl tries to use some New York expressions during dinner with Green and Pollunder, what is their response?

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

5. What happens as Karl steps out onto the stairs leading into the smaller boat that will take him to shore?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What unexpected news does Klara give her father when he and Karl arrive at the Pollunder home, and how does Pollunder react?

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

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

5. Why is Karl on the ship?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

How do ambiguity and the grotesque work together to create atmosphere and mood in Amerika, and how do these effects contribute to the novel's overall meaning? What patterns of detail and language work together to create a sense of ambiguity? What patterns of detail and language work together to create a sense of the grotesque? In combination, what specific atmosphere and mood do ambiguity and the grotesque create in this novel? How do atmosphere and mood support a theme or themes in Amerika? Be sure to support your claims with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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