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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. In "The Congress," why does the Congress fall apart?

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

3. In "Blue Tigers," what are the Blue Tigers?

4. In "The Maker," what physical problem is the protagonist going through?

5. In "Legend," what does Abel do to Cain?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the message about scientific precision in "Museum- On Exactitude in Science"?

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

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

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

5. In "The Book of Sand," what are the stages of the narrator's view toward the book?

6. In "Unworthy," why does Fischbein, a mild-mannered and bookish man, hang around a gang?

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

8. In "The Other," how does the elder Borges most successfully prove to the younger Borges that he is not dreaming their encounter?

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

10. In "A Weary Man's Utopia," is the society described by the old man really a "utopia"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Borges often portrays characters who switch sides, stand for one cause and then join the opposite one. How do these characters reflect Borges' concept of human identity? Is he merely criticizing a form of human behavior, or is he making a point about the precariousness of the self? Choose at least two appropriate stories and be specific in your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Borges, a cerebral author, often focus on lowlife characters? He often frames stories of knife fights, gangsters, murder, prostitution, etc., with academic musings. What is the effect of this seeming disconnect? Does this rough subject matter undercut the intellectualism? Or does the intellectual frame suggest that there might be more to these earthy stories? Perhaps they strike a perfect balance. Use specific stories in developing your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Existentialism is a philosophy that holds that one makes his own meaning from a life that is essentially absurd and meaningless. Is Borges an Existentialist? Does his method of writing, with its ambiguous meanings, and multiple possibilities imply existentialism? Choose at least one and up to three stories to support your argument. Be specific.

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