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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 after-dinner entertainment causes what reaction in the narrator and her companion?

2. What is the name of the man famous for his preservation techniques, causing Dr. Blau to seek out his home?

3. What event causes Dr. Blau to leave before discovering the secret preservation techniques?

4. How does Aleksandra describe God to the narrator?

5. What object is used to symbolize the tendency of certain people to seek life improvement through travel?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How is personification used to underscore the deep love Blau has for the study of anatomy?

4. What does the narrator announce as the aim of each one of her pilgrimages?

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

6. How is repetition used within the story about Kunicki and for what purpose?

7. How does the theme of deception arise within Blau's visit to Mrs. Mole's home?

8. What method does the narrator prefer when dealing with locations in which she has been hurt?

9. Since childhood, what sight has filled Blau with a feeling of happiness and fulfillment?

10. The narrator's use of the word pilgrim throughout the novel is an allusion to what great work of literature?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How are the topics of inheritance and legacy treated within the novel Flights and how does the treatment of these themes relate to the novel's depicted messages?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the theme of appearance versus reality within Flights. What is Tokarczuk’s message regarding appearances versus the nature of reality and how do you know?

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Tokarczuk’s novel Flights. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

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This section contains 987 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample