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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. Why does Jana say the police will probably catch someone who committed the crime near her apartment soon?

2. What is the nature of the Court, according to the narrator?

3. What milestone has Jana just reached?

4. What does Jana compliment Adriaan on that seems ridiculous to the narrator?

5. What does the narrator think of her own apartment?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator buy at the antique bookshop in Chapter 7?

2. What does the narrator think of Jana's new neighborhood?

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

4. How does the narrator find out that Adriaan is married?

5. How does the narrator first meet Adriaan?

6. What is the main business in The Hague?

7. Why is it a significant step for Jana to own her own apartment?

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

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

10. In Chapter 5, what is one reason the accused is angry, and what question does he ask the interpreter in French?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does the narrator find herself feeling so overtly jealous during her dinner with Adriaan and Jana, when Adriaan and Jana meet for the first time? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

Why does the narrator find herself drawn to the dunes at the coast of The Hague in the later parts of the novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

When and how does the narrator begin to differentiate between herself and her colleagues who are translators at The Hague? What does she begin to realize about the nature of the work during the former president's trial? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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