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. In "Letter Dated 26 January 1998," what did Alex tell Jonathan he did for the first time ever?

2. According to the old woman, what does Trachimbrod look like now?

3. What does Alex think the limp arm symbolizes?

4. What is different about Safran when he is born?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Safran muses "the more you love someone . . . the harder it is to tell them" (234). What is he referencing? Is this true? Why?

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

4. Why does Alex send back the money that Jonathan sent him? Why is he angry?

5. Does the old woman in "Falling in Love" know Jonathan's grandfather? What does she tell Jonathan?

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

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

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

9. Why do women fall in love with Safran?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the beginning of the novel, Jonathan tells Alex not to change his mistakes because they make the story humorous. He says that it is "the only truthful way to tell a sad story" (53). Do you agree or disagree? Discuss the concept that being "humorous is the only truthful way to tell a sad story" (53). Use examples of how humor is used throughout the novel and explain how they lead to truth and how humor can help when telling a sad story.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,757 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample