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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 does it mean that the head waiter has a "choleric" temperament?

2. What gossip starts to go around the Occidental about Rennel?

3. What does the head cook tell Karl that he does not "seem the type" for?

4. What is the likely intended purpose of the scene with the coffeepot during the morning at the inn?

5. How does Karl's relationship with Rennel show that Karl has not grown much from his experiences?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Karl's encounter with the policeman in the Ramses suburbs.

2. What convinces Karl to stay at Brunelda's apartment even after Delamarche assaults him?

3. Describe Delamarche and Brunelda's relationship with their neighbors.

4. How does Karl try to improve his position in life while he is at the Occidental Hotel?

5. What other locations is the description of the suburban Ramses apartment building meant to evoke, and what is the similarity between these locations?

6. How does Karl end up having a conversation with Therese in his room on his first night at the Occidental Hotel?

7. How does the head cook try to soften the blow of Karl's dismissal?

8. Explain how Karl ends up losing the photograph of his parents.

9. What shared background do Karl and the head cook discover they have?

10. Why does Karl have a hard time sleeping when he is living at the Occidental Hotel?

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

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.

Essay Topic 3

What is the absurd, and how does Kafka employ it in Amerika? What patterns of detail and language help create a sense of absurdity? What impact does this absurdity have on the reader? How does absurdity support a theme or themes in the novel? Be sure to support your claims with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text.

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