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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. How does Nadège’s limp affect Julius, when he joins her on a trip to the immigrant detention facility?

2. What hospital does Julius work at?

3. Where had Dr. Maillotte done her medical training?

4. What does the poet want to talk about, instead of reading poetry, when Julius goes to the 92nd Street Y?

5. What does Dr. Maillotte tell Julius she thinks about Ghanaians?

Short Essay Questions

1. What memory does the rain spur in Julius’ trip to Brussels?

2. What theme emerges in the clothing Julius notices on the people all around him in his wanderings through the city at the beginning of Chapter 4?

3. What does Nadège’s limp make Julius think about, and what does it make him see about Nadège?

4. What are Julius’ thoughts on the weather and global warming?

5. What does Julius say his relationship with his mother is like?

6. How does Julius describe his encounter with the Czechoslovakian tourist he meets in the café?

7. At the book's beginning, why does the narrator says that he goes for long walks?

8. What kind of trip does Julius make to Brussels?

9. Who is V. and what is her relationship with Julius?

10. What do we know about Julius’ relationships, in this first chapter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The biographical information says that Teju Cole is a “writer, photographer and professional historian of early Netherlandish art” (263). How do these other disciplines affect this novel? What does this book have in common with photography? What kind of photography in particular? What does this book have in common with Dutch art, or the discipline of art history?

Essay Topic 2

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

How does Julius grow or change over the course of the novel? What is he like at the start of the novel, and what is he like at the end? What are the main events that may have changed him? How do you account for the changes he undergoes? Or, how do you account for his lack of change?

(see the answer keys)

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