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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Why is revolution an exciting prospect to young people?
2. According to the poet's father, where was the poet conceived?
3. How does Maman mourn her husband's death?
4. Why does Jaromil wait to show his poetry to the university girl?
5. Why is the famous poet booed by the audience after he reads a poem?
Short Essay Questions
1. As Jaromil reaches adolescence, why is manhood so important to him?
2. When Kundera opens the scene of Maman and Jaromil's vacation, he uses many descriptive words and phrases. What effect does this have on the reading 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. What does the artist want most of all for Maman? Why is this difficult for her?
6. How does Kundera describe Jaromil's nursing? How does this set the tone for the future relationship between mother and son?
7. How does Jaromil view the loss of his virginity as a metaphysical event? Is his perception true?
8. At the ski lodge, Xavier kisses the old woman while luring the girl outside in the snow. In this scene, how do the women exchange places in life? How is this emphasized by the colors they wear?
9. How does Part 4 begin? What are the literary advantages to this?
10. In Xavier's interactions with the woman in the apartment, what role does water play?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
How is Xavier an important person because of the list in his notebook? How might Jaromil seek similar importance through these fantasies/dreams?
Essay Topic 2
Jaromil's father is his greatest friend (Part I, Chapter 4, pg 21). What might his mother have felt during that time? How does this weaken the close bond she has had with him before?
Essay Topic 3
How do the colors of people's clothing give clues about their place in Jaromil's life? What about the colors of clothing in Xavier's life? How are the colors similar or different between the two lives?
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This section contains 1,723 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) |
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