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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. What is one thing that Heinz was willing to do for his motorcycle that he was not willing to do for his wife?

2. Who was Rudolph Franz Hoess?

3. What secret does Resi reveal to the narrator before he leaves for the front lines?

4. In what year does Howard Campbell write his story?

5. What is the war crime that Howard Campbell stands accused of?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the narrator's and Helga's careers before the war begins, and how do they support each other in their careers?

2. What happened to members of the Sonderkommando when their job was done? How were they replaced?

3. What is Goebbels' response to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?

4. Of what does the Haifa Institute consider Heinz Schildknecht to be an expert and why?

5. Describe the narrator's mother and what is the "queer demonstration" she gives?

6. Why was Lionel Jones sent to prison (before he became acquainted with the narrator), and based on what evidence?

7. Why had Father Keeley been "unfrocked"?

8. How and where does the narrator learn the lurid details of his father-in-law's death and what does the narrator find troubling about the article, besides the fact that it is about the death of someone he knows?

9. What reason does Andor Gutman give for thinking that the position of "corpse-carrier" would be a good job?

10. Describe the Western Hemisphere University of the Bible. What kind of courses were taught and how could one earn a degree there?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the role ethics plays in the lives of the characters during and after the war. Do many of the characters behave ethically? Be sure to cite examples of situations where a character's behavior may have been different if he or she had been in a different situation.

Essay Topic 2

Mother Night was originally published in 1961 and is set in that time and in earlier times of the narrator's life, especially World War II. Discuss whether a novel written decades ago relating to events that happened decades before that is relevant today.

Essay Topic 3

The novel deals with many sobering topics such as war, genocide, racism, and suicide. Discuss your opinions of the way the novel handles these sensitive topics. For example, does the novel include too many lurid details or not enough? Should the novel have included more humor to lighten the dark tone or would that have distracted from the seriousness of the subject?

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This section contains 887 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample