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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Jakob do in his writing about his childhood that protects him?
(a) He writes several stories at once.
(b) He writes in English.
(c) He writes in the second person.
(d) He writes in the third person.

2. Of what does Jakob live in constant fear?
(a) Athos making him leave.
(b) His father's ghost ordering his to wreck vengeance.
(c) His mother's ghost wandering.
(d) Hearing the door being kicked in.

3. What do Athos' stories evoke in Jakob?
(a) Images of Jakob's family and friends.
(b) The need to know what happened to his parents.
(c) The desire for revenge.
(d) The desire to confront his family's killers.

4. What does Jakob sense one day?
(a) That Bella has died.
(b) That Bella is nearby.
(c) That the evil in the area has left.
(d) That someone is looking for him.

5. What does Jakob miss when living with Athos?
(a) His mother's tender good-night kiss.
(b) The most important events in his life.
(c) His dog.
(d) His father's laugh.

6. What effect does hearing the old tongue have on Jakob?
(a) It causes him to feel confused.
(b) It brings up images of his mother.
(c) It reminds him that he is not the same as he was.
(d) It causes him to feel both fear and love.

7. What does Athos do at the first sign of danger?
(a) Sits in the chair shaking in terror.
(b) Climbs in the sea chest.
(c) Crawls under the bed.
(d) Makes his way up the mountain to a cave.

8. What restaurants do Athos and Jakob frequent?
(a) American.
(b) Jewish.
(c) Constantine's.
(d) Italian.

9. Around which of Alex's friends does Jakob feel insecure?
(a) Her Zionist friends.
(b) Her Marxist friends.
(c) Her Beat friends.
(d) Her intellectual friends.

10. On what stories does Alex's father raise her?
(a) About Russia.
(b) About the British military.
(c) About Poland.
(d) About Alexander the Great.

11. What does Jakob feel inside him?
(a) Nothing.
(b) His mother saying goodbye.
(c) His father telling him to run.
(d) His sister's terror.

12. What happens in 1968, which is the opening to Book I?
(a) Jakob meets Athos' only living relative.
(b) Jakob meets a girl who reminds him of Bella.
(c) Jakob and Bella enter a soundless, colorful dream.
(d) Jakob stops dreaming.

13. Who is Athos?
(a) Jakob's grandfather.
(b) Jakob's uncle.
(c) Bella's contact.
(d) A man Jakob approaches.

14. What does Jakob wonder about Holocaust survivors?
(a) If their dead haunt them the way Jakob's haunt him.
(b) If they feel guilty.
(c) If they hate.
(d) How they feel surrounded by so much food.

15. What about Jakob does Alex have difficulty accepting?
(a) His shyness.
(b) His obsession with Bella.
(c) His Jewish background.
(d) His halting English.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Palamas?

2. What does Athos say a good deed does?

3. What do the Jews do when the Germans take over the occupation of the country from the Italians?

4. What does Jakob see ascending?

5. How is the site perfectly preserved?

(see the answer keys)

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