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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 do Robinson and Delamarche convince Karl to do with his good suit?

2. Besides the possible pay and the difficulty of getting other work, what reason does Robinson give for why Karl should accept the job?

3. Why is the landlady so reluctant to give Karl and Robinson breakfast to take back to the apartment?

4. What book does Karl's trunk contain?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Karl's first sight of Giacomo imply about working conditions in America?

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

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

4. Describe the interior of Brunelda's apartment.

5. What annoys Karl about finding the salami in his trunk in Chapter IV, "The March to Ramses," and what is the salami's eventual fate?

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

7. How does Robinson end up in Rennel's bed in the dormitory?

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

9. Describe Robinson's appearance at the Occidental Hotel in Chapter VI, "The Robinson Affair."

10. How does Karl meet Robinson and Delamarche?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you create a continuum of Amerika's female characters--based on a single criterion of your choosing--and then explain what this ordering of the characters conveys about the role of women in this text. Include, at a minimum, the following characters in your discussion: Therese, Line, Klara, Johanna, Brunelda, and the head cook. Be sure to offer textual evidence to support your assertions.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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