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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How is the university girl different from any other girl Jaromil has known?
(a) She gives him complete liberty with her body.
(b) She only lets him kiss her when no one else is around.
(c) She barely lets him touch her.
(d) She does not want him to meet her family.

3. Why do Jaromil's poems so often include death?
(a) Death is the only thing he does not yet understand
(b) He wants to be absorbed in something absolute and immense.
(c) A violent streak is developing as he is treated cruelly by the world.
(d) He is gradually becoming suicidal.

4. Why does Maman not want to go to the lake on vacation?
(a) She did not have enough money.
(b) She wanted her husband to go along.
(c) It would have reminded her of happier summers.
(d) Jaromil did not want to go with her.

5. Why does Jaromil go to the beach with Maman and her friends?
(a) He wants to spend time with Maman.
(b) He thinks a day away might make him happier.
(c) He cannot think of any excuse not to go.
(d) Maman will not leave him alone until he said yes.

6. What does Jaromil think is the quintessential surrealist object?
(a) His mother's light blue perfume bottle.
(b) The statue of Apollo.
(c) The chair leg if seen by itself.
(d) The telephone receiver with the dangling cord.

7. What is the highest point of happiness which Jaromil reaches so far in his life?
(a) A girl resting her head on his shoulder.
(b) Sleeping with the girl he met at dancing class.
(c) His father's memorial service as a war hero.
(d) The reconciliation with his mother after their fight.

8. What happens as Maman sees her son's physicality?
(a) She begins to question her sexuality.
(b) She begins to accept her own physicality.
(c) She becomes even more revolted by physicality.
(d) Her tenderness increases.

9. What is the first time Jaromil's words save him from punishment?
(a) When he began reciting the encyclopedia.
(b) When he used adult vocabulary at a young age.
(c) When his insult was a rhyme.
(d) When he yelled in a trochee speech pattern.

10. How do Jaromil and Maman reach the lake resort?
(a) By train.
(b) By walking.
(c) By train and buggy.
(d) By car.

11. According to the poet's father, where was the poet conceived?
(a) In the countryside near Prague.
(b) In the mother's apartment.
(c) On a park bench.
(d) In the apartment of his colleague.

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

13. Why does the brunette leave Prague?
(a) She is afraid of rioting in the city.
(b) She does not want to face Jaromil.
(c) She is involved in underground activities and must flee.
(d) She is getting married.

14. What does Jaromil write in his diary about the night he was supposed to lose his virginity?
(a) Several paragraphs about the essence of becoming a man.
(b) A thorough description of the university girl.
(c) A detailed account of his emotional state.
(d) Lots of exclamation marks.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Maman view her love for the young engineer?

2. During the summer, why is Jaromil alone?

3. Why do Jaromil's drawings favor dogs?

4. What does Jaromil hang on the wall in his room?

5. Why does Jaromil wait to show his poetry to the university girl?

(see the answer keys)

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