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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. Who says "I am a good person who has lived in a bad time" (227)?
(a) Grandfather.
(b) Lista.
(c) Jonathan.
(d) Alex.

2. The old woman tells that when the Nazis came all the men were lined up and told to do what or their family would die?
(a) Choose who would get shot.
(b) Spit on the Torah.
(c) Give them their valuables.
(d) Identify a Jewish person.

3. What is done with the Kolker's body after he dies?
(a) He is thrown into the Brod River.
(b) Brod burns the house down with his body in it.
(c) He is bronzed and put in the town square.
(d) He is buried in the garden.

4. Who is Alex referring to when he says, "it is as if after surviving so much, there was no longer a reason to survive" (143)?
(a) Alex's Grandfather.
(b) Jonathan's grandfather.
(c) Jonathan's grandmother.
(d) Brod.

5. Why does Alex lie to his brother?
(a) He wants his brother to be better than him.
(b) He wants his brother to admire him.
(c) He wants his brother to be happy.
(d) He wants his father to be proud of him.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Safran meets the Gypsy, what is the subject of the play they are watching?

2. What is written on Sofiowka's chest when he is found dead?

3. In "Letter Dated 26 January 1998," what does Alex do with the division Jonathan sent him?

4. What makes Lista unique?

5. Who did Grandfather "murder?"

Short Essay Questions

1. After reading "What We Saw When We Saw Trachimbrod, or Falling in Love," the reader might suspect that Lista was a character in her own story. Who might she be? How do you know? Why do this?

2. In "Letter Dated 12 December 1997," what does Alex think about Jonathan's writing about Safran? Is this hypocritical? What has Alex learned?

3. Why is it ironic that Safran asks his great-great-great-grandfather to not "let me hate who I become" (141)?

4. The old woman tells that she must live near Trachimbrod as "punishment" (189). According to her, what is she being punished for? What does this mean to you?

5. Alex has changed throughout the novel. Identify how he has changed by the time he writes "Letter Dated 24 December 1997." What do you think brought about the change?

6. How does Alex feel about the truth in "Letter Dated 12 December 1997?"

7. What is the relationship between Safran in 1941, Brod in 1804, and the Dial.

8. Why do women fall in love with Safran?

9. Although the novel does not say it directly, based on what is written in the Book of Antecedents, what can we assume Brod asked the Kolker to do? Why would she ask this?

10. How does Safran's teeth effect his life? What might have been different if he had not been born with teeth?

(see the answer keys)

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