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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. Which of the following moves had Ivan’s friend missed?

2. On which of the following does Peter have a case?

3. Which of the following does Margaret note a reading group at her workplace discusses?

4. What conference in Dublin does Margaret contemplate attending?

5. What color beach towel does Margaret use?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ivan fantasize about greeting Margaret at a chess tournament?

2. What is Ivan reminded of as he takes Alexei from Christine’s home?

3. Why does Peter, generally, decline to reach out to his brother to discuss his own life?

4. What does Margaret perceive as the benefit of her lifestyle?

5. Why is Margaret satisfied with the performance of the Goldberg Variations at her workplace?

6. How does Peter imagine Sylvia views Naomi after he has secured her release from jail?

7. Why does Margaret increasingly appreciate the town in which she lives?

8. Why is Peter sympathetic towards his imagined version of Margaret?

9. How does Christine greet Peter when he arrives at her home after his fight with Ivan?

10. Why does Ivan posit Margaret might not want to be kissed on the beach?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One question the novel addresses is the extent to which, to borrow a cliché, age is just a number. Ultimately, what answer does the novel arrive at? How does the text support that answer?

Essay Topic 2

Assuming that Intermezzo should be standard reading for a given class and level, what class and what level? Why that class and why that level? What in the text suggests as much, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Section divisions, their titles, and chapter numbering / division schema are all components of paratext. That is, they are not part of the text but are associated with it closely and affect its meaning. What significance, if any, accrues to the chapter-numbering scheme at work in Intermezzo? If there is significance, how does that significance manifest? If there is not, what in the novel supports the paratextual divisions that are in place?

(see the answer keys)

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