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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 the pawnbroker have attached to his door that makes a distinctive sound?

2. What is the stonecutter wearing in the Cemetery of Christ?

3. What is in the old man's paper-wrapped package in the end?

4. What is the narrator tempted to steal from the marketplace?

5. Of what is Princess Ylayali's throne made?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the narrator interested in the newspaper-wrapped package of the old man?

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

3. Why does Mr. Christie reject the narrator?

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

5. Why does the narrator stop to read the late editions of the newspapers, and for what does he apply?

6. What happens when the narrator angrily rings the bell of a random third-floor apartment?

7. How do the policemen throughout the novel treat the narrator?

8. How has the narrator's poverty already been revealed to the reader?

9. Why do the two shopkeepers refuse the narrator money?

10. What practical joke does the narrator decide to play on the passing policeman?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the values of the late 1800s. In what way are the characters products of their time? Does the book express the changes in either Norway or America at the time?

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 author's life. In what way is his life and personality reflected in the book? What was his experience of starvation and poverty?

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