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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 does the narrator say is a "snaggle-toothed thought machine"?

2. What does the narrator mean when he says, "alles kaput"?

3. In one of her final statements, Resi says of the narrator, "There is nothing left of him but __________ and a pair of eyes."

4. What are Resi, Father Keeley, and the Black Fuehrer doing when the narrator returns from his meeting with Frank Wirtanen?

5. What does the narrator call Werner von Braun?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Lazlo Szombathy, the man who uses the rope intended for the narrator. What had he done in his native country and after coming to America?

2. Describe what Stepan Bodovskov does with the narrator's writings. What is the result?

3. Why does the narrator say he "froze" after he is released after the raid?

4. What does the narrator tell Frank Wirtanen that he may have done with his life if Germany had won the war?

5. What does Frank Wirtanen say will happen to Jones, Keeley, the Black Fuehrer, and the Iron Guardsmen after the raid?

6. Where does Helga say she found the collection of the narrator's works? What is the significance of this place?

7. Describe the scene at Jones' house after the narrator returns from his meeting with the Blue Fairy Godmother.

8. Describe the narrator's encounter with Adolf Eichmann in the Tel Aviv jail.

9. What is the Memoirs of a Monogamous Casanova and why did the narrator not want it to be published?

10. How did the narrator meet Werner von Braun and what detail does he recall from that meeting?

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

Some of the younger characters in the novel, such as Dr. Epstein and the narrator's Israeli-born guard, think discussing what happened in the death camps pointless or irrelevant. Discuss whether these attitudes are healthy examples of people trying to get on with their lives and not be burdened by the past or a troubling example of living in denial.

Essay Topic 3

The novel seems to present most Nazis as being sane and rational, but presents the members and friends of Lionel Jones' hate group as being irrational and paranoid. Discuss why members of the two groups receive different treatment in the novel. Be sure to consider the narrator's role in the story.

(see the answer keys)

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