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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 Miss Andersen sell?

2. Where has Mr. Pettersen gone?

3. What does the narrator buy to settle his stomach?

4. What does the narrator offer the old man who sits down on his bench?

5. Who does the narrator tell the engineer the woman in black is?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the narrator put into a reserved cell?

2. Why does the narrator decide to return to his old apartment?

3. How does the narrator react to Queeny's advice on tailors?

4. Why does the narrator start crying?

5. Describe the narrator's fantasy of Princess Ylayali's castle.

6. Why is the narrator embarrassed by his blanket, and what does he do with it?

7. Why does the narrator think of his banker friend?

8. How does the narrator react to the organ-grinder's daughter's silence?

9. For what does C. Zacharias Bartel think the narrator has visited him, and why does he not want the narrator to see it?

10. What criticism does the editor give the narrator over his articles?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the parallels between the narrator's surroundings and his mental state. How do the narrator's surroundings affect his writing? How are his thoughts influenced by being in certain locations, such as by a church or at the pier?

Essay Topic 2

Hunger is translated from Norwegian to English. How much meaning can a book lose through a translation? What aspects of the book do you think would be the most difficult to express in English? How do you think a translator can overcome these difficulties?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the statement at the beginning of the novel, "This wonderous city that no one leaves before it has made its marks upon him." How does the author develop the ambiguity in this sentence? How do the other characters in the book seem to be living?

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