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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 kind of work does the narrator do?

2. Who is Adriaan supposed to meet for the first time soon in Chapter 4?

3. What does the accused do immediately in Chapter 5 after the officials are done speaking with him?

4. Why is Adriaan traveling in Chapter 7?

5. What does the narrator think many of the Court's defendants share?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Jana say happened outside her building the last time the narrator had visited during the dinner with Adriaan?

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

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

5. What does Adriaan offer to do for his first meeting with Jana and the narrator?

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

7. Why does Adriaan ask the narrator not to move to Jana's neighborhood?

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

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

10. What is the main business in The Hague?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why and when does the narrator come to feel that the person she most understands is the former president who is on trial in The Hague, following Adriaan's departure to Lisbon? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Does Adriaan offer enough of an explanation for his former silences to satisfy the narrator - and the reader - at the end of the novel? 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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