View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part 5: Chaps. 9-11, pp. 242-266.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Jaromil feel after talking to the police about the redhead's brother?
(a) Confident and more decisive.
(b) Afraid for the train of events he has started.
(c) Emotionally shaken.
(d) Eager to help the state.

2. Why does Jaromil begin taking lesson from the art teacher?
(a) Maman took an interest in the art teacher.
(b) He was tired of drawing people with dogs' heads.
(c) His art was consistently mediocre.
(d) He thought the art teacher would make a good father.

3. What do Jaromil's classmates find most irritating about him?
(a) He does not join in any of their games.
(b) He received more Christmas presents than any of them did.
(c) Mother love clings to everything he has.
(d) He has more money than they do.

4. What does Xavier take as an invitation to enter the house?
(a) The woman beckoning.
(b) The open window.
(c) The open door.
(d) The husband's absence.

5. What idea about poetry does the artist's chastisement cause in Jaromil's mind?
(a) That he is talented and has great potential for success.
(b) That he had been chosen to be the instrument of the poetic ideal.
(c) That he is a worthless poet and will not succeed.
(d) That he is an imposter in the world of poetry.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the dramatic action that led to the kiss between Jaromil and the university girl?

2. What makes Maman think that Jaromil is actually becoming like a son of Apollo?

3. To Jaromil, what determines a woman's beauty?

4. What is the silver-haired poet's attitude toward the poetry reading in the auditorium?

5. According to Kundera, what is "the first precondition of freedom" (Part III, Chapter 18, pg 121)?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 384 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample