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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 deep is the lake?

2. In Chapter 8, how long does Richard sit on a bench in the park and watch the refugees?

3. What is Richard wearing in Chapter 1?

4. How long has the young woman been teaching the refugees German?

5. How many lines does the boy in room 2019 have inscribed on each cheek?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Richard notice as he is led through the building where the refugees are housed?

2. How old was Richard when his family left Silesia and resettled in Germany, and how was he separated and then reunited with his family?

3. Why is no one at the lake that Richard can see from the desk in his home office?

4. What does the boy Richard calls Apollo tell Richard about himself?

5. Why does Awad know he will never forget Oranineplatz and will always revere its memory?

6. Why does the woman who teaches German classes to the refugees think it is difficult for them to learn the language?

7. How did Sylvia become unemployed?

8. Why does Richard not return to speak to the refugees on Thursday in Chapter 14?

9. Why does Richard go to a former school in Kreuzberg?

10. What is Awad's story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Institutional barriers can include legal restrictions, bureaucratic systems, and the challenges of adapting to another culture. What institutional barriers do the refugees deal with, and why are those barriers invisible to Richard when he first meets the refugees?

Essay Topic 2

Richard experiences a shift in his perspective and how he views the world as he gets to know the refugees. What does he mean when he is reminded by his visits with the refugees, "that one person's vantage point is just as valid as another's, and in seeing, there is no right, no wrong" (55).

Essay Topic 3

Richard has a comfortable life, and he does not have to worry about shelter or food. The refugees do not have permanent housing and often struggle to survive. How would you describe the economic disparity between Richard’s life and the lives of the refugees, and how it affects the refugees' day-to-day lives?

(see the answer keys)

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