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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. The narrator sees herself as "the perfect" (179) what?
(a) Pilgrim.
(b) Liar.
(c) Sinner.
(d) Observer.

2. Kunstkammer is the word for "cabinet of curiosities" (267) in what language?
(a) French.
(b) German.
(c) Portuguese.
(d) Dutch.

3. What part of the fictional Philip Verheyen's own body does he dissect over the course of several years?
(a) His foot.
(b) His ear.
(c) His leg.
(d) His arm.

4. The words "Mobility is Reality" (226) appear in the Moscow airport within an advertisement for what product?
(a) Credit cards.
(b) Trains.
(c) Cell phones.
(d) Taxis.

5. Annushka leaves the location to which she has fled because of a statue of which figure?
(a) The Virgin Mary.
(b) John the Baptist.
(c) Christ.
(d) Mary Magdalene.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Verheyen's student imagines his teacher, he pictures him using what type of writing implement?

2. For what reason does the narrator lament the plights of people who speak a particular language?

3. When the narrator dreams of cities as enormous tree trunks, what is her estimation of how high the live trees must have reached?

4. The narrator laments the plights of people who speak what language as their native tongue?

5. Charlotta's personal touch is detectable in the drawings of what two objects on the labels of the specimen jars?

Short Essay Questions

1. What two points of view does the narrator claim exist in the world and why?

2. How is the theme of family bonds demonstrated within Annushka's story?

3. How does the theme of obsession arise within the story about Verheyen?

4. How is the theme of ethnocentrism depicted within the vignettes focusing on James Cook?

5. What significance does the unnamed narrator find in the shapes of airports?

6. In what way does the unnamed narrator show an affinity for secrecy?

7. What elements does the unnamed narrator consider when deciding whether a story or a lecture is more appropriate for the story she has to tell?

8. In what way does Tokarczuk use dialogue in order to highlight a lack of sensitivity in tourists?

9. How does Tokarczuk use postcards as a symbol?

10. In what way does the theme of regret appear within the story of Van Horssen and his mentor Verheyen?

(see the answer keys)

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