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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. What does Athos say a good deed does?

2. Who is Jakob Beer?

3. Where does Jakob run?

4. How does Alex act?

5. What does Athos do for relaxation?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Kostas say about Palamas and Sikelianos?

2. Describe Alex.

3. What incident does Ioannis relate, and of what does it remind Jakob?

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

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

6. How does Jakob end up in Greece?

7. Where is Jakob Beer at the opening of the novel, and what is he doing?

8. What is the Beskupin site?

9. Why do Athos and Jakob identify with explorers of Antarctica?

10. How does Athos cause Jakob to understand the power of poetry?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Sometimes a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and sometimes it is the other way around. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not.

5. What type of plot do you think "Fugitive Pieces" is? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 3

Jakob offers the parable of a famed rabbi who travels incognito in shabby clothing and is ridiculed by passengers. When they find out who he is, they beg forgiveness, but he refuses, even on the Day of Awe, because they have wronged the man on the train, not himself. The moral: nothing erases an immoral act. When the victim is dead, only silence remains. Recorded history can be resurrected. Destruction turns presence into absence.

1. With research, explain what a parable is and why they might be used. Use examples from your own life and "Fugitive Pieces" to support your answer.

2. Do you think it is true that nothing erases an immoral act? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and the book to support your answer.

3. Discuss, in depth, what you think the following means: When the victim is dead, only silence remains. Recorded history can be resurrected. Destruction turns presence into absence. Use examples from your own life and "Fugitive Pieces" to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 881 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample