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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. In what type of ground does Athos say one should be buried?

2. What does Athos teach Jakob to cook?

3. Why does Jakob suffer from scurvy?

4. From where has Jakob Beer just emerged at the opening of the novel?

5. Who is Athos?

Short Essay Questions

1. What thoughts does Jakob have about the Catalan Atlas and history?

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

3. What does Athos teach Jakob to cook, and why does Jakob stop going to the grocery store?

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

5. What is the Beskupin site?

6. How does Jakob meet Alex?

7. Describe Alex.

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

9. How does Jakob contrast history and memory?

10. What is Biskupin and what happens to it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of growth in "Fugitive Pieces". Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with growth? Why? What are some symbols of growth? Symbols of rigidity? What characters seem rigid?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of courage in this book. Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to possess courage? Why?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of death. Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters are affected by the death of friends and family? How?

4. Trace and analyze the theme of not forgetting the past in "Fugitive Pieces". Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters are affected by the the past the most? How? Why?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

There are a number of interesting questions raised by "Fugitive Pieces". Questions that Michaels most likely want readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the Michaels' agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Michaels' probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

4. Research the life of Michaels and see if/where her life may have influenced her writing.

(see the answer keys)

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