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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. In "A Dialogue About a Dialogue," what interrupts the dialogue?
(a) A noise.
(b) The narrator remembers he has to catch a train.
(c) The talkers run out of things to say.
(d) One of the speakers becomes suddenly ill.

2. In "Parable of Cervantes and Don Quixote," Cervantes can best be described as which of the following?
(a) Insane.
(b) Despondent, for he believes art is useless.
(c) Unaware of the future recognition of his fictional character, Don Quixote.
(d) Young and arrogant.

3. "Brodie's Report" can best be described as which of the following?
(a) An auto-biographical short story based on Borges's family.
(b) A critique of Islam.
(c) A satire on civilization.
(d) An explication of Swift's "Gulliver's Travels."

4. Which of the following best describes the theme of "Mutations"?
(a) Writing will become superfluous because people will communicate telepathically.
(b) The connotations of words are extremely hard to alter.
(c) Mankind will change into something radically different because of scientific experiments.
(d) Objects used for death often become symbols for different things.

5. In "The Interloper," which of the following best characterizes the treatment of Julia by the two brothers?
(a) They are kind and doting.
(b) They treat her like an object.
(c) They are afraid of her.
(d) They do not even notice her presence.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Undr," what does the sacred word of the Urns mean?

2. In "The Sect of Thirty," the sect worships which Biblical figure?

3. In "The Gospel According to Mark," what does Baltasar do with the Gutres' English Bible?

4. In "Argumentum Ornitholicum," if the number of birds is indefinite, what is implied?

5. In "The Book of Sand," what does the narrator do with the book at the end?

Short Essay Questions

1. Name some of the customs and beliefs of the strange group in "The Sect of Thirty."

2. In "The Gospel According to Mark," why do the Gutres want to crucify Baltasar?

3. In "The Rose of Paracelsus," why doesn't Paracelsus turn the ashes of the rose into a rose for the young man?

4. In "Covered Mirrors," what is the narrator's attitude toward mirrors?

5. In "The Interloper," do the Nelson brothers have any redeeming qualities?

6. In "Borges and I," who are the two Borgeses, and what is the relationship between them?

7. In "The Yellow Rose," what is Marino's epiphany?

8. In "Undr," is there any suggestion that "Undr" or "wonder" really isn't the only sacred word of the Urns?

9. In "The Plot," a gaucho dies in a similar fashion to Julius Caesar. What does this suggest about history?

10. In "The Ethnographer," why won't Fred Murdock reveal the secret of the Indian tribe to the professor?

(see the answer keys)

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