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

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

3. Why does Jaromil agree to read in the presentation of poets?
(a) He does not want to make the janitor's son angry.
(b) He thinks it will finally bring him recognition as a poet.
(c) He wants to prove that he believes the ideals of communism.
(d) He will become part of the common people since the literary community rejected him.

4. What had the middle-aged man done when the girl was arrested?
(a) Pleaded with a judge to free her.
(b) Tried his best to rescue her.
(c) Gotten another girlfriend.
(d) Tore up her picture and called her an enemy of the future.

5. When Maman returns home early one evening while the redhead is visiting, what does she pretend is happening?
(a) The redhead is having cramps and needs her help.
(b) Jaromil is disobeying a house rule and the redhead must leave.
(c) She is sick and needs Jaromil to take care of her.
(d) She is having a heart attack in the kitchen.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How long has it been since the middle-aged man saw the girl who rang his doorbell?

3. Why is there silence at the beginning of the question-and-answer time following the recitation?

4. What is Jaromil's opinion of the redhead's family?

5. What makes Maman think that Jaromil is actually becoming like a son of Apollo?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the girl a different person from when she went into the prison? How is she more like Jaromil had been?

2. "History does not always make a dramatic entrance, it often seeps through every-day life like dirty dishwater. In our story, History makes its appearance in the guise of underwear" (Part 5, Chapter 8, pg 239). What does this mean in the context of Jaromil's story?

3. How does the author insert his own thoughts into Part 6, Chapter 1? What effect does this have on this entire part?

4. How does Jaromil feel while he is visiting the janitor's son at the police station? What does this say about his personal growth?

5. What arguments do Jaromil and the redhead have concerning their families? How does this illustrate Jaromil's juvenile mindset?

6. "Only a real poet knows how lonely it is inside the mirrored house of poetry" (Part 7, Chapter 1, pg 289). Where else does the reader see mirrors in the story, and how does this sentence relate to Jaromil's life?

7. Why does Jaromil want to undress the redhead? How does this show his inadequate understanding of relationships?

8. When Jaromil is angry at the redhead for being fifteen minutes late, what change ensues in their relationship? How does this mark a turning point in Jaromil's development as a person?

9. In planning the documentary about Jaromil's life, what do Maman and Jaromil reveal about themselves? What do they reveal about their relationship?

10. The group of poets, Jaromil among them, is invited to speak at the police academy in the countryside. What is the irony of this situation and what does it say about the ideals they espouse?

(see the answer keys)

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