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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the artist's opinion about Jaromil's drawings of headless women?
(a) The environments of the pictures do not acknowledge humanity.
(b) Jaromil's drawings reflect a fear of women.
(c) Jaromil does not acknowledge humanity.
(d) Jaromil does not have enough talent to draw portraits.

2. In confiding to Jaromil, what does Maman say is her greatest love?
(a) Her husband.
(b) Family life and stability.
(c) Her son.
(d) Literature.

3. As the story reveals, what is in store for the famous poet?
(a) Painful death.
(b) Sudden death.
(c) Jaromil's hatred.
(d) Ostracization from society.

4. Why does Jaromil walk through the world with a feeling of guilt?
(a) Because he betrayed the only love of his life.
(b) Because he is not loyal to the principles that his father died for.
(c) Because he leaves Maman at home alone.
(d) Because he is not living life to the fullest.

5. When Jaromil and the university girl are kissing in her house, what does Jaromil think about obsessively?
(a) His early curfew.
(b) His torn shirt cuff.
(c) The girl's breath.
(d) Turning off the light.

6. What does Xavier do with the husband after his presence is discovered?
(a) Beats him up so that he loses consciousness.
(b) Pushes the husband out the three-story window.
(c) Wrestles the husband to the ground and ties his hands.
(d) Pushes the husband into the wardrobe and locks it.

7. What reason does the poet's father give for not having more children?
(a) Jaromil is such a nuisance that he does not want more like him.
(b) He cannot afford to raise more children.
(c) He was forced to compromise for one child in the beginning, so Maman should compromise and be happy with only one.
(d) He is about to go to war and would not be a part of the children's lives.

8. How does Xavier know that there will be no executions the day he hears shots fired?
(a) Only one family is being targeted.
(b) He has not yet given the command for anyone to be executed.
(c) The list of victims is in his notebook.
(d) He has the list of victims memorized.

9. Why does Xavier constantly arrive late, no matter where he's going?
(a) He prefers to tempt fate by not scheduling things very well.
(b) He has always had trouble being punctual.
(c) His watch is always slow.
(d) He feels that a scheduled life is boring and unsurprising.

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

11. Why does Jaromil not react to the words his mother painted for his room redecoration?
(a) He is embarrassed to show how proud he is of them.
(b) He is ashamed that she used his own words.
(c) He does not recognize that the words are his.
(d) He is amazed that his words have their own significance.

12. What pleased the artist the most about Jaromil's drawings?
(a) The original inner world that they revealed.
(b) Jaromil's own modesty when presenting them.
(c) The amount of time and care that went into them.
(d) The high degree of talent which they exhibited.

13. Why does Maman take her husband's picture off the wall?
(a) He had been complying with the Communist takeover.
(b) He had been having an affair with a Jewish girl.
(c) She fell in love with someone else.
(d) He had not been involved in the underground resistance.

14. Why does Xavier leave the beautiful woman?
(a) He loves her but not enough to fight her husband for her.
(b) He no longer loves her.
(c) The world becomes even more beautiful because it came at the cost of her love.
(d) His life is much more difficult than she can ever bear.

15. In Part III, Chapter 19, how does Jaromil get a fever?
(a) He takes a walk around the snowy town without wearing winter clothes.
(b) He visits the university girl when she is sick.
(c) He stands on the balcony of a girl's apartment in the snow.
(d) He sits on a park bench with the university girl.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do Jaromil's drawings favor dogs?

2. Who or what is the real source of Jaromil's poetic inspiration?

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

4. What does Xavier find most compelling about the woman in the house?

5. According to Maman, where was the poet conceived?

(see the answer keys)

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