View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Alex claim to be?

2. What would Alex name a town if given the chance?

3. Who wins the Trachimday parade game?

4. What does Yankel wear that distinguishes him from everyone else?

5. How do Brod and Yankel earn a living?

Short Essay Questions

1. What ailment does Grandfather claim to have and why? How do you know he is lying?

2. Name two things Alex claims to be, but that we might suspect he is exaggerating. Explain your response.

3. Why does Brod think she is the float queen in the Trachimday parade? What is the real reason?

4. Yankel lies to Brod. What does he lie about? Why does he lie? What do you think about his lies?

5. Is Sofiowka a reliable character? How do you know? Give details from the story.

6. By the end of "The Very Rigid Search," Alex has yelled at Jonathan twice. Describe these incidents. What is significant about these outbursts?

7. Describe the lottery drawn in "The Lottery, 1791." What do you think of the "lottery"? Explain your reasoning.

8. Describe the relationship between Alex and his father.

9. Alex tells Jonathan that he "did not amputate Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior from the story" (55) despite Jonathan's request that he do so. Why would Jonathan not want SDJJ in the story? Why does Alex keep her?

10. In "Falling in Love, 1791 -1796," we learn that Yankel's wife has left him. What are her motivations and what do you think of this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, there is a theme of responsibility. Every man or woman is somehow responsible for their child's actions. Discuss the concept of a father/mother's responsibility for the their child's actions. Is this true? Give examples from Foer's novel and provide examples from your own life that may show responsibility in family relationships or the lack thereof.

Essay Topic 2

This novel is a historical fiction, which means that even though the story itself is not true, some of the events or people involved are real. For example, there most likely was never a Safran and if there was, he probably was not writing love notes to a Gypsy girl. However, the war that is in in the newspapers from which Safran cuts the letters out did happen. World War II did come to the Ukraine and many Jewish people were killed as they were in the novel. Research the Ukraine's involvement in World War II. When was it invaded? What happened to the Jewish people? What happened to the Gypsies? What did it do the Ukraine? What is the Ukraine like today? Answer these questions in a research paper. At the end of your research, analyze the accuracy of Foer's novel.

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, Foer suggests that everything that ends begins again. Remember that the theme of rebirth does not necessarily have to do with physical rebirth. Their can also be spiritual, emotional, and symbolic rebirth. Discuss this theory and how Foer supports it. What does it mean? What does it teach?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,486 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample