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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. From where had Denis and Françoise come to the Moulinards?

2. What contest did the narrator witness in Nebraska?

3. Where does Jean note a dairy breeder committed suicide?

4. Where does the narrator note she would happily live?

5. What does the narrator claim is her favorite Italian film?

Short Essay Questions

1. Of what does René’s smell remind the narrator?

2. Why, per Bruno, is there resistance to the idea of Neanderthal fishing?

3. What is the subversive action the Moulinards plan at the agricultural festival?

4. What does the novel describe a “screen memory” as being (187)?

5. How does Pascal’s appearance when the narrator meets him differ from her expectations?

6. Why is the narrator permitted to disagree with the intellectuals among the Moulinards?

7. Per Pascal, why does Bruno part from his erstwhile Marxist associates?

8. What prevents Lucien from filming in the Alpilles?

9. Why does the narrator doubt Pascal’s violent intentions?

10. Why does the narrator rule out Florence as a potential anti-Pascal actor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does Creation Lake bear as much out?

Essay Topic 2

To what other writer’s work in your experience does Kushner’s seem most similar? What makes the writers similar? What differentiates them? Overall, which do you regard as doing better at the craft of writing, and why?

Essay Topic 3

The narrator makes much of what she does not say to others. What effect does the called-out non-speech have on the narrative? How does that effect emerge?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 562 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample