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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 one item fills the man's apartment with nostalgia and melancholy?
(a) A picture of the girl.
(b) The girl's brown shabby coat.
(c) The girl's downcast face.
(d) The ring on the girl's left hand.

2. How does the film begin?
(a) With Maman recounting childhood memories with Jaromil.
(b) With pictures of Jaromil as a child.
(c) With Jaromil reciting his most famous poem.
(d) With a home recording of Jaromil as a child.

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

4. Once Jaromil arrives at the party hosted by the cinematographer, how does he feel about his clothes?
(a) He is casual and sloppy.
(b) His clothes are at the height of fashion.
(c) His clothes are a few years out of style.
(d) He is overdressed and stuffy.

5. How long has it been since the middle-aged man saw the girl who rang his doorbell?
(a) One year.
(b) Three years.
(c) Eight years.
(d) Three months.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens during the second half of Jaromil's poetry recitation?

2. Returning home from the police station, what does Jaromil find?

3. Who was the first man the redheaded girl slept with?

4. When Maman returns home early one evening while the redhead is visiting, what does she pretend is happening?

5. When Jaromil wants to recite poetry to the redhead, what disturbing thought occurs to him?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Kundera says that the young person can be so loyally devoted to an idea because he believes in absolutes (Part 5, Chapter 6, pg 220). How does this fit with Jaromil's personality?

3. After not sleeping with the cinematographer, Jaromil considers his underwear for a long time, in light of the women involved. What does he decide? How does this single piece of clothing drive so much of what he does?

4. Near the end of the book, Xavier betrays Jaromil by leaving him behind. What is the significance of this scene?

5. Jaromil's first revelation about duty is that it is "voluntary and represents human daring and dignity" (Part 5, Chapter 11, pg 263). Given his situation, is this true?

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

7. "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?

8. 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?

9. "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?

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

(see the answer keys)

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