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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. What classic womanly question does the university girl ask Jaromil?
(a) If she looks fat in her dress.
(b) If he will love her forever.
(c) If she looks better clothed or unclothed.
(d) How many kids he wants.

2. How does Jaromil's father prepare for leaving home several days at a time on business trips?
(a) He spends time with Jaromil.
(b) He never gives his family warning.
(c) Maman cooks for two days ahead so he can take food with him.
(d) He makes Maman do his laundry.

3. With whom does the famous poet appear on the street?
(a) An imposing policeman who personifies his beliefs.
(b) His mother.
(c) A pretty girl who looks like a fashion model.
(d) A common girl taken from the hubbub of life.

4. Part 4, Chapter 1 begins with an anecdote about which poet?
(a) Jaromil.
(b) Valery.
(c) Rimbaud.
(d) Lermontov.

5. Why does Maman push away her husband's hand when he wants to make love?
(a) She wants him to apologize for humiliating her.
(b) She wants to punish him for humiliating her.
(c) She knows that she no longer loves him.
(d) She suspects that he was cheating.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is 1949 an interesting year for Czech youth?

2. Why does Jaromil begin taking lesson from the art teacher?

3. Why is the famous poet booed by the audience after he reads a poem?

4. On the train, why does Xavier avoid his Latin professor?

5. During the summer, why is Jaromil alone?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Jaromil attracted to the dark-haired girl? What does this attraction show about his development as a character?

2. When Maman combs Jaromil's hair in front of her guests, how does he react? According to the implications of the text, how does this deepen the rift between them?

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

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

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

6. When Jaromil is unable to make love to the university girl a second time, he pretends that there is another woman in his life. To what extent is this true?

7. How does Kundera describe Jaromil's nursing? How does this set the tone for the future relationship between mother and son?

8. 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?

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

10. How does Jaromil prepare for a date with a girl? How does his preparation actually make him completely unprepared for the date?

(see the answer keys)

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