View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. During the argument between Jaromil and the party guest, why do the other guests burst out laughing?
(a) The party guest has picked up Jaromil by his shirt and pants waist.
(b) Jaromil has punched the party guest in the face.
(c) Jaromil has tripped over a coffee table and fallen.
(d) Jaromil has tripped over a coffee table and fallen.

2. What happens during the second half of Jaromil's poetry recitation?
(a) He loses his place on the page and becomes flustered.
(b) The audience gives him a standing ovation so he has to stop reading.
(c) Lights come on and a camera starts rolling.
(d) The pretty cinematographer throws a rose to him.

3. 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.

4. While Jaromil is answering questions about love and socialism, what is he most conscious of?
(a) Dark eyes watching him from the audience.
(b) Maman's imagined disappointment over his answers.
(c) The presence of the silver-haired poet.
(d) The fact that he is only reciting the words of his artist teacher.

5. Who is most upset that the bus stop was moved two blocks away from the villa?
(a) The middle-aged woman.
(b) The pretty cinematographer.
(c) The organizer of the poetry recitation.
(d) The man with the wooden leg.

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

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

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

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

10. While watching the beautiful cinematographer on the bus, what does Jaromil realize?
(a) How ugly the redhead is.
(b) How little his poetry is worth compared to the cinematographer.
(c) That he will never love anyone but Maman.
(d) That he has fallen in love with her.

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

12. What happens to Jaromil's uncle?
(a) He is charged with being an enemy of the state and imprisoned.
(b) He leaves his wife to hide in a remote village.
(c) He contracts pneumonia and dies.
(d) He is charged with fraud and imprisoned.

13. How does Maman destroy the intimacy between Jaromil and herself?
(a) By insulting the redhead's manners.
(b) By suggesting that the redhead sleeps around.
(c) By looking down on the redhead because of her job.
(d) By telling Jaromil he could find a better girl.

14. When the redhead is fifteen minutes late, what is the first excuse she gives Jaromil?
(a) She was with her mother in the hospital.
(b) She was with a girlfriend who was breaking up with her fiancé.
(c) She was spending a few minutes with her brother.
(d) She was making love to another man.

15. Why is Jaromil not jealous when he considers the redhead in the hands of the policemen?
(a) She is his creation and therefore belongs only to him.
(b) He has deep faith that the policemen will never hurt her.
(c) He knows that her love for him will never waver.
(d) Once she is gone, he no longer cares about her.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Jaromil, how do socialism and love interact?

2. According to Kundera, why is lyricism immature?

3. What is the redhead's reaction to Jaromil's poetry printed in the newspaper?

4. How does the film begin?

5. Why had Jaromil not known about the film about his life?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 849 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample