View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Julius’ thoughts about the Africans he had seen in Le Panais make him think about the cleaning woman in the church?

2. How old does Julius say his father was when he died?

3. When Julius goes to the club Le Panais, where does Julius say he thought all the Africans in Brussels were from?

4. When Julius sees children on a playground on his way home from the appointment with his accountant in Chapter 13, what does he say the creak-creak of the swings signifies to them?

5. What does Julius say the snow-covered city makes him feel in Chapter 14?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Julius characterize his trip to the tailor to get clothing for his father’s funeral?

2. What does Julius say his relationship with winter is like?

3. What was the last time before his fathers funeral that Julius says that he had seen a dead body?

4. How does Julius kill half an hour when he is early to meet Dr. Maillotte?

5. How does Julius react to Dr. Saito’s death?

6. How does Julius characterize his stance on global warming, during the picnic in Central Park, and what does he say his stance indicates about himself?

7. How does Julius respond when Moji tells Julius that she has never forgotten him sexually assaulting her when they were students?

8. What experience does Julius have in Chinatown, that gives him the “disorientation and bliss” of living in his childhood self again?

9. What does Julius know about Dr. Saito’s relationship history, and how does he know it?

10. What odd scene does Julius witness in the diner, where someone is learning Chinese?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The surprise revelation that Julius had raped Moji as a child puts the reader in the position of revising his or her estimation of Julius’ narrative, and revisit the narrative for evidence that would exonerate or condemn Julius. This basically constitutes a second reading of the book. How do you respond to this impetus? Do you want to go back and figure him out? Is Julius a puzzle you want to resolve? Or are there things about Julius or about the novel that make you hesitant or even unwilling to invest the work in figuring him out? What makes you want to figure him out? What makes you want to leave him and his mystery to themselves?

Essay Topic 2

What is missing from this book? What should have been covered or presented that was not? What is the effect of this absence? Describe an element that ought to have been covered, and explain why it would have made the book stronger.

Essay Topic 3

Who is the audience for Open City? What is the ideal reader for Open City likely to think about the book’s main topics? How does this book try to affect the reader? What is it trying to teach him or her, or get him or her to do?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,156 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample