View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Arthur refrain from participating in the retreat manager's attempts at conversation during the ride to the retreat site?
(a) He is too enchanted with the sights and sounds of India.
(b) He is depressed.
(c) He cannot understand her very well.
(d) He cannot hear her.

2. The narrator describes which character as "the kind of woman who would run an international spy ring" (168)?
(a) Michelle.
(b) Stella.
(c) Zohra.
(d) Marian.

3. After Arthur asks students not registered in the Global Linguistics and Literature department to leave the class, how many students are left?
(a) 30.
(b) 80.
(c) 50.
(d) 10.

4. What does Zohra say about the mind that resonates with Arthur completely, due to his regrets about letting Freddy go?
(a) The mind is incompatible with the heart.
(b) The mind is incapable of seeing the bigger picture.
(c) The mind is the enemy of love.
(d) The mind cannot be trusted.

5. The narrator describes the Bedouin encampment as a what?
(a) A vision.
(b) A dream.
(c) A mirage.
(d) A nightmare.

6. In what German city is the university at which Arthur teaches for a time?
(a) Hamburg.
(b) Munich.
(c) Frankfurt.
(d) Berlin.

7. When Arthur shouts to Lewis "This isn't a birthday!" (108), what does he say it is instead?
(a) An Agatha Christie novel.
(b) A Sherlock Holmes story.
(c) A Raymond Chandler novel.
(d) A Truman Capote novel.

8. Which location in Tahiti is the source of Freddy's desire to go there?
(a) Fautaua Waterfall.
(b) Gauguin's house.
(c) The Water Gardens of Vaipahi.
(d) Paofai Gardens.

9. When Arthur goes to dinner with Hans and Hans's friends, he blurts out, "You boys don't know anything about" (106) what?
(a) Death.
(b) Misery.
(c) Poetry.
(d) Boredom.

10. What incarnation of facial hair does Arthur begin to grow in Germany?
(a) A handlebar mustache.
(b) A beard.
(c) Sideburns.
(d) A thin mustache.

11. What natural event occurs that traps the group inside the Bedouin encampment?
(a) A heat wave.
(b) A flash flood.
(c) A tornado.
(d) A sandstorm.

12. What does Lewis say is not within human beings to do forever?
(a) To be tied to one person.
(b) To be in a long-distance relationship.
(c) To live in the same city.
(d) To live without heartbreak.

13. The writer's retreat attended by Arthur in India is on a hill above which sea?
(a) The Arabian Sea.
(b) The Black Sea.
(c) The Caspian Sea.
(d) The Dead Sea.

14. For how long had Lewis known that he and Clark were splitting up before he told Arthur?
(a) A week.
(b) Ten years.
(c) A year.
(d) A few months.

15. When Arthur's neighbor sees him climb through his apartment window, she is not alarmed since "she knows he is not a thief" and is "clearly just" (108) a what?
(a) An oaf.
(b) An American.
(c) A Bavarian.
(d) A fool.

Short Answer Questions

1. What object is given to Arthur at the prize ceremony in Italy?

2. What does the princess next door to the Moroccan riad's pool do in order to express her displeasure with the late-night noise being made by Arthur's party?

3. Arthur sarcastically thanks life when he sees a book by what author by his bed in the Bedouin encampment?

4. What task does Arthur plan to complete during his stay at the writer's retreat?

5. Arthur is described by the narrator as someone who can "sometimes touch another and send the spark of his own" what "into theirs"? (114)

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 576 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample