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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 vignette entitled "Sarira" focuses on what kind of person?

2. What type of receptacle is featured in the vignette about the collection of oddities?

3. What metaphorical object does Tokarczuk use to make a point about aberration and reality?

4. In what way does the pilgrim who reveres a philosopher interpret what he observes?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. Describe the unnamed narrator's first childhood experience as a traveler.

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

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

8. What conclusions does the narrator draw about islands and why?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What messages does Tokarczuk send about coping mechanisms and what themes are employed in order to send these messages to the reader?

Essay Topic 2

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within Flights and what is Tokarczuk’s message regarding these themes?

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.

(see the answer keys)

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