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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 Nebojsa's name sounds exactly like the Polish phrase that means what in English?
(a) Say your prayers.
(b) Do not be afraid.
(c) Keep moving.
(d) Take heart.

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

3. The narrator claims that when a beached whale is saved and is sent to a particular country, its fate is what?
(a) To have its blubber harvested.
(b) To be turned into dog food.
(c) To die alone.
(d) To live in an aquarium.

4. At what time of day do the homes of one country's citizens become small stages, according to the narrator?
(a) At midnight.
(b) At dusk.
(c) At noon.
(d) At dawn.

5. The vignette about whales posits that on the rare occasion when a beached whale is saved, it is sent to what country?
(a) Cuba.
(b) Japan.
(c) Thailand.
(d) China.

Short Answer Questions

1. The woman with the red suitcase makes several trips to what country?

2. The narrator gives a ride to a young man named Nebojsa who tells her what kinds of stories?

3. In the vignette entitled "Purity of Blood," the narrator is staying at a hotel in what city?

4. In the vignette entitled "Flights," the narrator states that "everything is" (227) what in hell?

5. Who notices during their visits that Verheyen is becoming increasingly obsessed with his amputated body part?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. In what way does the theme of compassion arise within Annushka's story?

5. Who is Annushka?

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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