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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 notes that the airport in which city is shaped like a hieroglyphic?
(a) San Francisco.
(b) Denver.
(c) Tokyo.
(d) Frankfurt.

2. The Day of the Dead is a festival that lasts for what length of time?
(a) 1 week.
(b) 6 days.
(c) 3 days.
(d) 1 afternoon.

3. Annushka begins taking what form of transport ceaselessly throughout each day?
(a) A bicycle.
(b) A boat.
(c) A bus.
(d) A train.

4. In what liquid is Verheyen's amputated body part preserved?
(a) Brandy.
(b) Gin.
(c) Formaldehyde.
(d) Ether.

5. The narrator declares that reception areas are better than cafes for what reason?
(a) Because they contain more human drama.
(b) Because they are quieter.
(c) Because they are carpeted.
(d) Because they require no purchase.

Short Answer Questions

1. The vignette entitled "The Achilles Tendon" opens in what year?

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

3. When Annushka wishes for someone to witness her pain, she visits what location?

4. The woman with the red suitcase stops in what location on her way home from visiting her ex-lover?

5. Annushka leaves the location to which she has fled because of a statue of which figure?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What object does Tokarczuk use in a metaphor characterizing the nocturnal brain and why?

3. What does the smoke created by the Maori symbolize?

4. How do Existentialist ideals creep into Verheyen's later writings?

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

6. Who is Annushka?

7. What had the woman in rags been mumbling to Annushka when Annushka became frightened?

8. Discuss how the motif of dreams appears within the unnamed narrator's vignettes.

9. When the words of Annushka's supposed tormentor are revealed, what had the old woman been saying?

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

(see the answer keys)

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