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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 much does Julius say he carries around his patients’ experiences and stories?

2. What recent event has created controversy in Brussels, when Julius arrives there?

3. What happens to decrease the tension over the recent incident in Brussels when Julius visits?

4. What did Pierre, the bootblack who shines Julius’ shoes, used to do before he became a boot black?

5. What is Julius’ status in the hospital?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is the feeling Julius wakes up from his dream with, in the beginning of Chapter 10, in his first days in Brussels?

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

4. What political controversy is playing out when Julius arrives in Brussels?

5. How does Julius explain his split with Nadège?

6. What is it about Coca-Cola that the younger Julius found so appealing?

7. How does Farouq surprise Julius?

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

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

10. What is Julius’ relationship with his oma like?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

How are women represented in Open City? What roles do they play, and how does Julius and other men in the novel treat them? What does Julius’ and others’ treatment of women tell us about Teju Cole’s values as an author or about the fictional universe he has created?

Essay Topic 3

Would you recommend Open City to a friend? What kind of friend would you recommend Open City to? What kind of friend would you not recommend this book to? What does this distinction tell you about the qualities of the novel itself? What does it tell you about your own critical values?

(see the answer keys)

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