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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 is 1949 an interesting year for Czech youth?
(a) Their jubilance is both voluntary and mandatory.
(b) They have no idea how to implement their ideas for the future.
(c) Their Marxist ideas are taking hold more quickly than they ever expected.
(d) They have destroyed the past but have no future.

2. What does Xavier find most compelling about the woman in the house?
(a) Her hair.
(b) Her hands.
(c) Her eyes.
(d) Her breasts.

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

4. Why does the blond girl wear a beautiful white dress to the dance hall?
(a) It is her wedding dress.
(b) She wants Xavier to notice her.
(c) She wants to personify the snow.
(d) She wants to attract attention from the boys around her.

5. While kissing the old woman, why does Xavier turn on the light?
(a) He wants to take away the old woman's shame in her withered body.
(b) He does not want to lose sight of the blond girl.
(c) He wants to block out all sight of the blond girl.
(d) He wants to show off for the blond girl.

Short Answer Questions

1. With whom does the famous poet appear on the street?

2. What are the four students singing about while on the train?

3. Why does Jaromil not react to the words his mother painted for his room redecoration?

4. How does the artist show Maman that he is not interested in a relationship with her?

5. What is unusual about Xavier's presence at the blond girl's funeral?

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. Why is Maman angry at Jaromil because of her love life? Is her anger justified?

3. What does Xavier notice most about the woman in the apartment? How does the woman use her eyes?

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

5. After the death of Maman's husband, how does she change? Though Kundera does not make it overt, is this change for the better or for the worse?

6. What does the artist want most of all for Maman? Why is this difficult for her?

7. Consider titles of the novel, sections, and chapters. How do the titles help to establish the frame of the story?

8. In Xavier's interactions with the woman in the apartment, what role does water play?

9. When Jaromil returns at midnight after walking the university girl home, Maman becomes hysterical because she was worried about him. What does this scene show about these two people's perception of love?

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

(see the answer keys)

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