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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is Banaka?
(a) A local novelist.
(b) A local crime boss.
(c) Bibi's uncle.
(d) The foreman at the factory where Bibi works.

2. What happens to Tamina after she sleeps with Hugo?
(a) She is silent permanently.
(b) She regains her voice and words.
(c) She tells him to leave her home and never come back.
(d) She cries.

3. What language is the word litost?
(a) German.
(b) Czech.
(c) Russian.
(d) Polish.

4. Where is the boat with the boy who rows?
(a) Docked on the bay.
(b) Tied to a bridge at the riverbank.
(c) In a field of corn.
(d) At the shore of a lake.

5. Where does Tamina work?
(a) As a waitress at a cafe.
(b) As a nanny to one of the big Communist Bosses.
(c) We are not told.
(d) As a secretary to the Minister of Justice.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the only picture Tamina has of her husband?

2. Who is Kristyna?

3. Who does Kristyna meet one day?

4. What does the student debate with others?

5. How does Hubl say you can "liquidate its people"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Kundera do at the opening to Part VI: The Angels?

2. What happens to permanently silence Tamina?

3. Where does Tamina go with Raphael?

4. Briefly describe a few of the most salient points about Tamina.

5. What does Tamina ask Bibi to get for her in Prague and why does Tamina make the request?

6. Why do you think Kundera blurs historical moments?

7. What is the relationship of litost to romantic love in general and specifically in relation to Kristyna and the student?

8. What does Tamina do shortly after her husband dies and what might this foreshadow?

9. How are the Czechs and litost related in Kundera's opinion?

10. What is the meaning of the word litost?

(see the answer keys)

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