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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Kundera, why is lyricism immature?
(a) It thinks mostly about mothers and motherhood.
(b) It wants to return to the safety of childhood.
(c) It cannot handle themes of war and death.
(d) It only writes poems about childhood.

2. What location is Maman most excited to film in?
(a) The artist's studio.
(b) The countryside surrounding Prague.
(c) Jaromil's bedroom.
(d) Her garden.

3. What makes Maman think that Jaromil is actually becoming like a son of Apollo?
(a) His face is becoming beautiful and godlike rather than coarse.
(b) He values the Greek gods more than passing political trend.
(c) He has taken down the picture of his father.
(d) He has begun writing beautiful poems, not poems of death.

4. Why is Jaromil jealous of the redhead?
(a) She receives letters from a man he does not know.
(b) Because her doctor sees her body.
(c) He suspects that she is cheating.
(d) She will not tell him where she got the flowers on the table.

5. Why was Maman initially pleased to think about meeting Jaromil's girlfriend?
(a) She wanted to befriend the redhead so she could control Jaromil more.
(b) She wanted to make peace with Jaromil by meeting his girlfriend.
(c) She had told the downstairs tenant that her family would need the entire upper floor.
(d) She thought perhaps she could make a friend.

6. What question does the middle-aged woman have for the group of poets?
(a) How will socialism affect poetic forms?
(b) How will socialism affect their personal lives?
(c) How is modern love different from love in the past?
(d) Why was the bus stop moved down the road?

7. When Jaromil has difficulty undressing the redhead, what is the girl wearing?
(a) A dress with large white buttons down the front.
(b) A thin negligee.
(c) A dress with small black buttons down the back.
(d) A grey dress with a wide collar.

8. While walking with the redhead one day, whom does Jaromil see?
(a) Maman and the beautiful cinematographer.
(b) The janitor's son.
(c) Maman and her new lover.
(d) The brunette he had fallen in love with long ago.

9. Who was the first man the redheaded girl slept with?
(a) A childhood friend.
(b) A middle-aged man in the city.
(c) A fellow student at the university.
(d) An older man in her village.

10. During the filming, how does Maman push Jaromil back into the role of a young child?
(a) By calling him her little troublemaker.
(b) By telling embarrassing stories of his childhood.
(c) By calling him pet names.
(d) By reminding him of immature ideas he used to believe.

11. At Jaromil's sick bed, what words link Maman most closely to him, in her mind?
(a) "I don't want him to look down on us."
(b) "You're a poet, and I am so happy for you. . .".
(c) "Everything he's ever done has been in the interests of the working class."
(d) "Are you in such a hurry to leave me?"

12. What contest does the party guest suggest to Jaromil?
(a) A contest between a mouse and a cat.
(b) A contest between a poet and a policeman.
(c) A contest between an artist and a poet.
(d) A contest between a poet and a corpse.

13. Why does the man work in a factory?
(a) The government had decided he was too closely connected to capitalist England.
(b) He is suspicious of any white-collar job, which is often involved in the unsteady political trends.
(c) It was punishment for his anti-Communist writings.
(d) He has always wanted to work with his hands.

14. Just outside the prison, why does the girl hate to see the horses and riders?
(a) She takes it as a bad omen.
(b) She has always been afraid of horses.
(c) She thinks they are out to capture people, possibly her.
(d) She feels far below them and pitiful by comparison.

15. What one item fills the man's apartment with nostalgia and melancholy?
(a) The girl's brown shabby coat.
(b) A picture of the girl.
(c) The girl's downcast face.
(d) The ring on the girl's left hand.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Jaromil agree to read in the presentation of poets?

2. What happens during the second half of Jaromil's poetry recitation?

3. How does the old poet describe the cinematographer and Jaromil?

4. When does Jaromil feel that the girl belongs to him completely?

5. In the cinematographer's apartment, what happens?

(see the answer keys)

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