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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. In Chapter 6, what does Adriaan want to bring to Jana's?

2. What does the narrator learn from a stranger about Adriaan not long after the two meet?

3. Who has just passed away in the narrator's family?

4. Where did the narrator first meet Adrian?

5. What does the narrator recall seeing on a recent trip to Old Town in Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the main business in The Hague?

2. How does the narrator feel about New York City in Part I?

3. Why is the accused jihadist late in arriving at the detention center?

4. In Chapter 5, what does the narrator worry that the taxi driver might think she is working as?

5. Why does Kees make the narrator uncomfortable in Chapter 3?

6. What does Bettina ask the narrator to do in Chapter 5?

7. What happens when the narrator goes to dinner at Jana's in Chapter 1 that jolts them both?

8. What do many of the defendants at the International Criminal Court share, according to the narrator?

9. According to the narrator, what does one hear the longer she listens to any one interpreter speaking?

10. What does translation and interpretation require, according to the narrator?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Kitamura describe the narrator's sense of home and belonging in the beginning of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay describing the tone and language Kitamura establishes through the narrator's voice in the novel, citing specific references to the text to help support your answers.

Essay Topic 3

Why does the narrator ultimately turn down Bettina's offer of a permanent job in translating at The Hague? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

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