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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 Peter’s friends grew up in Galway?

2. Which of the following courses does Peter teach?

3. With which of the following does Part Three begin?

4. What book does Ivan note wanting to read?

5. Where did Margaret attend college?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Ivan insulted by Margaret’s opinion that she is taking advantage of him?

2. Why does Peter think he had it harder with Christine and her stepchildren than Ivan did?

3. How did Ivan react to his friend’s promotion to International Master?

4. Why does Ivan hesitate to tell Margaret he loves her?

5. Why does Peter not return to his apartment after his upset with Sylvia?

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

7. How does Anna’s mother contrast with Margaret’s?

8. What had been Margaret’s hope in leaving her husband?

9. How does Ivan work to restore his late father’s house for his own use?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the ending of the novel. Does it satisfy? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

Similarly, the lengths of chapters influence reading. What pattern of chapter-length is present in the novel, if any? What effect does the length of chapters have on the reading? How is the effect achieved?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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