View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the former president do as a signal to his own supporters?

2. What happened to the witness for the prosecution in Chapter 13?

3. What does the narrator do at Jana's exhibit in Chapter 10?

4. What is the name of Jana's new exhibit?

5. What does Anton remember most vividly about his mugging?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does Jana introduce the narrator to in Chapter 10, and why?

2. What surprises the narrator about the way the former president behaves in Chapter 9?

3. What does the narrator think might have changed in her first meeting with Kees if she had known he was a lawyer at the court?

4. What is one area of Eline's life that the narrator finds herself envying?

5. In Chapter 10, what does Kees say about Adriaan that unsettles the narrator?

6. What do the former president's supporters do in the courtroom in Chapter 8?

7. In Chapter 9, why does the narrator come to understand the former president asks for her specifically?

8. In Chapter 11, how does the narrator begin to view the book she bought for Adriaan earlier?

9. What does Amina tell the narrator is Kees's reputation?

10. What impression does the narrator form of how his colleagues regard Kees?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the narrator's conversation with her mother from the dunes at the end of the novel seem to affect the narrator's sense of place, purpose, and memory? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

How does the narrator react to the young woman who acts as a witness to the former president's crimes? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 698 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample