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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 does the narrator say Ylayali is related to Happolati?

2. What kind of job opening does the narrator see?

3. Who has sent the letter to him?

4. Who suggests to the narrator that he should ask to be locked up?

5. Why does Mr. Christie decide against employing the narrator?

Short Essay Questions

1. What stories does the narrator tell to explain the package with his green blanket inside?

2. What story does the narrator tell the old man?

3. How does the narrator view the red rocking chair when he decides to leave his apartment for good?

4. What lie does the narrator invent to explain why he returned for the pencil?

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

6. How does the narrator react to the old cripple walking in front of him?

7. What are the narrator's worries about the word 'kuboaa'?

8. Why is the narrator glad when the stable-boy asks him for five kroner?

9. How does the narrator punish himself for nearly asking the editor for money?

10. Why does the narrator become annoyed with the old man?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main themes of the story. In what way are these themes relevant to the period? How does the author use character and setting to express these themes?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Fantasy plays a large role in this novel. Discuss the narrator and Ylayali's fantasies of one another. How do they differ from reality? How do you think they affect the character's actions?

(see the answer keys)

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