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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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.

2. What is the redhead's perception of Jaromil's interest in her?
(a) He is interested in her only because the brunette is gone.
(b) He has been interested in her a long time and used to wait for her outside the store.
(c) He has been interested in her ever since she caught him staring in her window.
(d) It is his destiny to be with her.

3. What kind of dog does the art teacher have?
(a) An Alsatian.
(b) A Dalmatian.
(c) A St. Bernard.
(d) A Great Dane.

4. Why is Jaromil filled with pride after sleeping with the redhead girl?
(a) She relieved him of his virginity.
(b) She is strikingly beautiful.
(c) She does not ask questions about his inexperience.
(d) She thinks he is experienced.

5. Why does Maman blame Jaromil for all her troubles?
(a) He has cost her the love of every man in her life.
(b) She lashes out at him because he is defenseless.
(c) She would rather blame her son as herself.
(d) He is too emotionally needy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Jaromil write in his diary about the night he was supposed to lose his virginity?

2. Why does Jaromil write so many poems about women's bodies?

3. Why does Maman want to return to her relationship with the artist?

4. What does Jaromil do when the redhead catches him staring through her apartment window?

5. What is Jaromil's criterion for a true poem?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Xavier leave the woman behind at the end of Part 2?

2. How are Jaromil's university experiences told in the novel? What message does this convey to the reader about the scope of the novel?

3. At the debate in Part 3, Chapter 15, what arguments does Jaromil make about progress? Given his own life, how are these views ironic?

4. What revelation does Maman have about her husband one night after a party? How does this affect her relationship with Jaromil?

5. How does Part 4 begin? What are the literary advantages to this?

6. "For real life is elsewhere. The students are pulling up cobblestones, overturning cars, making barricades; their entrance into the world is noise and magnificent, illuminated by flames and glorified by explosions of tear gar grenades" (Part 4, pg 175). What does this mean in the context of Jaromil's life?

7. What role does Jaromil want the artist to play in his life? How does the artist fall short of these expectations?

8. What role do the twenty telephone receivers play in the story?

9. Given the first three paragraphs of Part 2, what leads the reader to believe that this character is Jaromil? What clues tell the reader that it is someone else?

10. Maman and the engineer disagree about where Jaromil was conceived. Why is this an important debate?

(see the answer keys)

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