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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. When the narrator dreams of a huge cloud on the horizon, in what location does she find herself in the dream?

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

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

4. What type of trains are discussed in the vignette entitled "Trains for Cowards" (61)?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Analyze Tokarczuk’s inclusion of the journey motif within Flights. What message is Tokarczuk sending about journeys versus destinations?

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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