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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. About what does Jakob feel wrong?

2. What do Athos and Jakob gather?

3. Who preaches freedom at Palamas' funeral?

4. How is Alex actually?

5. Who is Kostas Mitsialis?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jakob sense from his hiding place as his family is killed?

2. What is Biskupin and what happens to it?

3. What often causes Athos to become depressed or angry?

4. Why do Athos and Jakob go to Athens and in what condition is Greece?

5. What does Jakob do after he witnesses the invasion of his home?

6. How does Jakob contrast history and memory?

7. Describe Alex.

8. Why does Athos choose Toronto as the place to relocate?

9. What is Toronto like and where do Athos and Jakob go to live?

10. What does Kostas say about Palamas and Sikelianos?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

History and memory share time and space and every moment is really two moments. Examples are how the Nazis and the Lublin scholars view the destruction of holy books, how Nazis and mothers in Lódz react to the soldiers "catching" infants on their bayonets, and how a woman in Birkenau carries a photograph of her husband and daughter under her tongue in order not to be separated from them. Jakob cannot resist reading the horrors of history because he needs to know where Bella actually dies.

1. Explain your ideas as to why history and memory might be two different moments. Use examples from your own life and "Fugitive Pieces" to support your answer.

2. Explain the type of internal change must occur in a soldier in order for a decent or ordinary person to become the type of individual who would toss an infant on his bayonet. Include what people in society today might learn from such a transformation. Use examples from your own life and the text to support your answer.

3. Explain, in depth, how Jakob reading of the Holocaust horrors is related to Jakob not knowing what happened to his sister. Use examples from your own life and "Fugitive Pieces" to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Titles often play a vital role in making a person decide to read a particular book. Discuss the following:

1. Fully explain why you think "Fugitive Pieces" is titled as such. Do you think it is the best title for the book? Why or why not? Can you think of a better title? Why would you choose it?

2. How important is a title in influencing you to consider reading a book? Explain your answer.

3. Do you think a title needs to have direct relevance to a book's content? Explain your answer.

4. Have you ever read a book that when you finished, you do not understand the relevance of the title? Does it discourage you from "trusting" that particular author again?

Essay Topic 3

Many novels, and perhaps a majority, of novels ends on a happy note. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think many (most?) people want what they perceive as a happy or good ending to a novel? Explain your opinion. Do you? Why or why not?

2. What are three reasons to read fiction? Discuss each one in light of "Fugitive Pieces" and whether or not it fulfills all three, two or one of the reasons you mention. Give examples as to why "Fugitive Pieces" is or is not successful in fulfilling the reasons you discuss.

3. Do you think reading solely for entertainment is as good a reason to read as any other? Why or why not? Can any work of fiction or non-fiction, no matter how poorly written, enlighten, teach, stimulate thought? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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