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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 term does the unnamed narrator use to describe the element that "always claims" him when he "loses track" (22) of where he is?

2. What language does the unnamed narrator use to answer Gospodar's question about what he desires?

3. The unnamed narrator gets a text in "Decent People" from which character asking to meet at the fountain in front of the Presidency?

4. At the end of the "strange litany" (29) the unnamed narrator delivers about his desires, he repeats over and over, "I am" (29) what?

5. Which element of G.'s poem does he deem to be all wrong during his conversation with the unnamed narrator?

Short Essay Questions

1. What feeling does the unnamed narrator experience with Gospodar, while noting that he had never experienced it with R.?

2. In what way does the unnamed narrator draw a connection between the role of a teacher and the mysterious nature of a teacher's impact?

3. How does the unnamed narrator describe the feeling he always gets when he "loses track" (22) of his place in the world?

4. In what way do G.'s assumptions about the American LGBTQ community make him feel isolated?

5. In what way does Greenwell go about depicting a vivid portrait of the city of Sofia?

6. What information about the unnamed narrator's father has been revealed by the time "Decent People" comes to a close?

7. Which aspects of the cafe chosen by G. makes it clear to the unnamed narrator that G. had wanted privacy for their discussion?

8. From what part of the world did the unnamed narrator originally hail?

9. What mistake does G. point out in his own poem and what message is he sending to the unnamed narrator with this admission?

10. What aspect of the unnamed narrator's arrival at the apartment depicted in "Gospodar" is designed to be humiliating and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within Cleanness and what is Greenwell’s message regarding these themes?

Essay Topic 2

How are the topics of romantic relationships, love, and sex treated within the book Cleanness and how does their treatment relate to the book's depicted messages?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Greenwell's choice to tell the story of Cleanness using the first person point-of-view wielded by an unnamed narrator. What elements of the book's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are Greenwell’s intended effects on the reader?

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