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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. One vignette describes which people's practice of mummifying their loved ones' heads?

2. The narrator states that darkness causes her to feel like taking what action?

3. The narrator's first true experience with travel takes place during what period of her life?

4. The narrator comes to believe that change is different from permanence in what way?

5. What book does Erik read again and again while he is in prison?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does the theme of isolation arise within the vignettes that focus on Eryk?

3. To what advice does the title "Guidance from Cioran" refer?

4. Describe Blau's feelings about the discipline of medicine.

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

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

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

8. Discuss the qualities of Flights that could qualify it as a Postmodern work of literature.

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Look carefully at the passages of Flights that use allusion. What is Tokarczuk’s purpose for using a particular category of allusions with Flights and how does the use of allusion support the text’s goals?

Essay Topic 2

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.

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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