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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. Why does Maga say she won't go to sleep in Chapter 26?

2. According to Horacio in Chapter 2, who destroyed his philosophical quest?

3. What does Maga tell Horacio when he leaves her flat at the end of Chapter 20?

4. Which philosopher does Horacio cite in his ruminations of Chapter 3?

5. How many pieces of the music recital in Chapter 23 are written by Berthe Trepat?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Maga and Horacio view the meaning of their precarious dates differently in Chapter 6?

2. What event is taking place in this section?

3. What is Horacio's goal for living in Paris?

4. Why are Maga and Horacio so affected by the fish in Chapter 8?

5. What is Rocamadour's place in La Maga and Horacio's relationship?

6. In Chapter 115, what surrogate experience does Morelli describe?

7. What is Ossip's diagnosis of Horacio in Chapter 16?

8. Why is La Maga irate in Chapter 93?

9. What criticism does Maga make of Horacio at the end of Chapter 3?

10. How does Wong's torture photos affect Horatio's mood for the worse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel of HOPSCOTCH is largely a novel about ideas and flights of bohemian fancy, but existent above and below the would-be sweet life of the narrative is the omnipresent specter of death. Write an essay about death in the novel, focusing on three instances of it. How do the characters struggle and strive to ignore mortality in the novel? How does every instance of it in the narrative seem to shatter some delicate balance? What is destroyed by it?

Part 1) Rocamadour

Part 2) Pola

Part 3) The end of the novel.

Essay Topic 2

The novel of HOPSCOTCH is in many respects a hodgepodge or a mixed media piece. Write an essay exploring the different types of writing that coalesce to tell the narrative. How many different points-of-view are used to tell the story? How many languages? What is the purpose of the constant quotes, lyrics, and newspaper articles? Give several examples of unorthodox structures used to write individual chapters. How do all these different aspects combine to tell a unified story?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the Serpent Club as a collective. Begin the essay by assessing that the Club wants to achieve with its debates, texts, and listening sessions? Who among them typifies this desire? Who is often ostracized in the search for this intellectual extreme? In the second half of the essay, discuss how the Club fails in this pursuit. Describe the last meeting the Club has and analyze what causes them to turn on each other. What have they lost over the course of the first book of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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