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

Short Answer Questions

1. The donkey owner observes that the American tourists are different from the others in what way?

2. The narrator remarks that she has a decided aversion to what element of life?

3. The narrator likes to read facts from the package of what product?

4. Another one of the pilgrims featured within Flights considers what philosophical work to be more practical than the Bible?

5. The first pilgrim featured in the narrative tells the narrator that the things he has seen are now what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is ironic about Blau's "unproblematic" (133) romantic life prior to his marriage?

2. What type of metaphor does Tokarczuk use to describe the river near her childhood home and why?

3. What are the narrator's feelings about guidebooks?

4. According to the unnamed narrator, what is possibly "the greatest wonder of the world" (72) and why?

5. How does the unnamed narrator feel about islands and why?

6. How is the theme of violence present within the story about the sultan?

7. What discordant image is at the center of the vignette entitled "Cleopatras"?

8. What is the message contained within the vignette entitled "Travel Sizes"?

9. Discuss an instance of Tokarczuk employing satire in order to poke fun at a particular group.

10. What coping mechanism does Kunicki primarily use to deal with the stress of his missing wife and son?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Tokarczuk's choice to tell the story of Flights using a great deal of first-person narration. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are Tokarczuk’s intended effects on the reader?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how and why Tokarczuk instills three different humanist messages into the narrative of Flights.

Essay Topic 3

Write a critical essay about Flights while using the critical power theory lens of feminist theory. Use textual evidence to back up your strong, specific claim regarding the novel's treatment of gender roles, the objectification of women, female empowerment, misogyny's role within society, or any other issues related to feminist theory that can be found in the novel.

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This section contains 924 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample