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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. How is Friedrich?

2. What do the narrator's family members hear while they are in bed?

3. About whom does the rabbi tell a story?

4. What does the narrator's father advise Friedrich to do?

5. What has a boy lost?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Friedrich's family celebrate his Bar Mitzvah?

2. What does the narrator do with the mob and why do you think he is capable of those acts when his best friend is Jewish?

3. What is ironic about the way Resch treats his garden polycarp in contrast to how he treats Friedrich?

4. What do you think Schneider was doing by saying, "You were right, Herr..."?

5. What happens when a Storm Trooper takes over the physical education of the German school boys during his spare time?

6. Who visits the Schneiders and what happens?

7. What happens and what is the significance of it when Friedrich and the narrator are leaving the pool?

8. What does Friedrich's appearance suggest?

9. What is foreshadowed in the first part of this chapter?

10. Do you think Resch is more motivated by patriotism or greed when he turns in the Schneiders?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the chapter titled, "The Teacher," Teacher Neudorf gives the students a brief account of the persecution of the Jews over the centuries. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Why do you think Teacher Neudort knows so much about the history of the Jews? Do you think he studied Jewish history in order to cull through the lies and propaganda of the Nazi party?

2. After reading the brief history of the Jewish people in this chapter, did it change your perception of the Jewish people? If you are Jewish, how accurate does this history seem to you and how do you feel about what Teacher Neudort says?

3. After the brief enumeration of Jewish history, Neudort asks the students how Jews could be anything but crafty and sly, when everyone wants to torment them. How can they not be avaricious and deceitful when they never know when they will be robbed and dispossessed again? Does this seem to be suggesting that Neudort believes the stereotypes about the Jewish people but seems to think the Jews are justified in their shortcomings? Can an entire group of people all be crafy, sly, avaricious and deceitful? Does Neudort in a way just add to the students' prejudice of Jews?

Essay Topic 2

In the chapter, "Conversations on the Stairs," we see the first example of the courage of the narrator's father, though he is, like most humans a mixture of seemingly conflicting emotions and behaviors. Choose one of the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Take one major character and show how the character is a mixture of both admirable and less-than-admirable traits. Why do you think this is so? Is anyone ever always one way or another?

2. Most of us have had the experience of doing something that was "not like us." We are fearful when we are usually brave, or vice versa. Mean when usually kind; pessimistic when usually optimistic, etc....Relate one or two incidents in your life when you did something that was not like you. Explain why you did it; whether you regret your choices, and if you would make the same choice again.

3. Choose several well-known politicians, celebrities or other persons who have done things that seemed out of character for that person, or did something completely opposite of what s/he indicated s/he intended. State the situations and analyze each situation, answering the same questions in number 2 above.

Essay Topic 3

The first section determines the action takes place somewhere in Germany after World War I, when the victorious Allies are taking economic vengeance on the losers. Choose one of the following questions in a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. What is the situation like in Germany post WWI? Give examples of the economic and political conditions.

2. Many say Hitler's rise to power is a direct result of how Germany is treated in the war. Learn more about this and give your opinion.

3. How could the Allied powers have done things differently to help Germany recover in such a way that it does not set up an opening for the type of situation that Hitler creates?

(see the answer keys)

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