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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. As he looks at the photograph of his parents, what decision does Karl reconsider?

2. What does the word "Occidental" mean?

3. Where does the head cook have Karl's luggage sent?

4. What element of the attic room's decor does Karl spend time looking at closely?

5. What surprises Delamarche and Robinson about Karl's time in New York?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What two reasons does Robinson have for coming to see Karl?

3. What is ironic about Karl's actions with his trunk during the night he spends in the inn after leaving Pollunder's house?

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

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

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

7. How does Therese's backstory support the idea that life for immigrants in America is difficult and somewhat dependent on sheer luck?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that analyzes Amerika through the lens of Le Grand Guignol. Explain the hallmarks of this theatrical tradition and where they are seen, at minimum, in Kafka's settings, moods, and plot. Finally, explain what significance these similarities have to the book's overall meaning. Support your claims with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Research more deeply into Kafka's works and the characteristic themes and motifs that critics have noted in them. Write an essay in which you situate Amerika in this context. Which of Kafka's other works do its motifs and themes echo? In what sense is this novel sui generis? How do its similarities to and differences from Kafka's other words demonstrate both the evolution of his thought and the persistence of ideas throughout his life? Use textual evidence to support your assertions, and be sure to cite all of your sources in MLA format.

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