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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. How does Kundera feel about the dancing?

2. What happens to Mirek when he and Zdena break up?

3. When did Marketa dislike her mother-in-law?

4. Where does Kundera remember a number of historical events happening?

5. Who is discussing the play "Rhinoceros" ?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Mirek arrives back home and how is this somewhat ironic?

2. How would the relationship between Marketa and Karel change if Marketa cheats on him with Eva and her husband?

3. What do Kundera and other students do around 1948 and why? Do you think Kundera is speaking metaphorically or actuality.

4. What does Mirek think of Zdena when they first meet and then become lovers?

5. What is Zdena response to Mirek's request for his letters and do you think she is being fair to Mirek?

6. Why does Kundera quit dancing and what does he imagine about the dancing? Of what do you think his imagining about the dancing is symbolic?

7. Why do you think Kundera agrees to write an astrology column?

8. What does Marketa contemplate doing with Eva near the end of the chapter?

9. What is the larger meaning of the letters which Mirek is supposedly seeking to have back?

10. How does Kundera's loss of his friends in the dancing circle affect him later?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The final chapter, "Borders," seems to suggest the idea of borders through repetition. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think this chapter is titled "Borders"?

2. Does the concept of borders appear in each chapter? Explain with examples.

3. Do you think there is a reason Kundera titles the last chapter "Borders" as opposed to any other chapter in the book? Explain fully.

4. How is the concept of borders related to that of repetition? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

In Part 4, the main character (as deemed by Kundera later in the novel) is introduced. She is one of the two or three fictionalized characters that Kundera assumes are born every second on earth. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think Kundera means by the statement above?

2. Do you think Kundera is advocating for or against writers and the characters they create? Explain fully.

3. If Tamina is a fictionalized character, do you think she is a symbol of some concept in Kundera's experiences? What do you think she represents? Explain fully.

4. Kundera thinks of Tamina as the main character. Why do you think he sees her as the main character? Of what--the book? A couple parts of the book?

Essay Topic 3

In part 5, "Litost," a student at the Writer's Club states that only a poet can understand the value of what he writes and others may never get it at all. Discuss the following:

1. What is the purpose of poetry if not to communicate to others?

2. Do you think the above statement only applies to poetry? Why or why not?

3. If no one can understand the value of something one writes, is it worth writing it? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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