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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 state is Dr. Saito’s helper Mary in when Julius goes to visit his friend in Chapter 15?

2. What does Moji say she actively worries about, during the picnic in Central Park?

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

4. What does the fine weather on the day of the picnic in Central Park make Julius recall?

5. What does Julius say the Statue of Liberty served as until 1902?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Julius affected by his thoughts about slavery in New York?

2. What is Julius’ relationship like with the character he never names, but simply calls “my friend” (179)?

3. What does Dr. Saito tell Julius when he visits him in his illness?

4. What are Julius’ dreams like, after he hears about Dr. Saito’s bedbugs?

5. How does Julius explain his views about psychiatry to his friend?

6. How does the model of New York from the 1964 World’s Fair serve as a metaphor for the book?

7. What is the postcard Julius keeps on the corkboard behind his desk?

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

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

10. How does Julius respond when his friend’s girlfriend Lise-Anne asks him about the most humorous cases he had seen among the mentally ill?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate the ending of Open City. Does it ring true to you? Does it successfully resolve the problems and tensions that preceded it? What would you change, if anything? What are you left wishing for closure on, if anything?

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

The character of Julius spends a great deal of time “reading” the external world of the city, telling what stories he knows about neighborhoods and historical figures and events—but what strategies does Julius use, for finding the internal experience of people, and getting to know the deeper life of individuals? What role does loneliness play, in Julius’ world? How much space does he have for other people? Does he welcome them in, or keep them out? What clues does Teju Cole give us about the character’s psychology on this question?

(see the answer keys)

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