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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. Yanek spends which years inside the Plaszow concentration camp?

2. What is the first boon Yanek receives as a result of finding money in Krakow?

3. Yanek tells the reader in Chapter 6 that he would trade "a week's worth of rations" (37) for one serving of which food prepared by his mother?

4. What object does Yanek's family use to cover the small window in the pigeon coop?

5. By the time Yanek's parents are seized by the Nazis, Yanek has been assigned a work detail in what kind of shop?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the Judenrat hold a meeting in Zgody Square, what announcement do they make?

2. Who witnesses the capture of Yanek's parents?

3. What is Uncle Moshe's ultimate fate and how does Yanek discover it?

4. For what purpose is the bakery belonging to Aun Fela and Uncle Abraham secretly and altruistically used?

5. After what event in the narrative does Yanek state, "If I had only known then what I know now, I would have run" (3)?

6. Describe an instance when Gratz makes it clear that adaptability is a crucial skill for any Jewish person living in Nazi-occupied parts of Europe.

7. Who hides within the pigeon coop on the roof of Yanek's apartment building?

8. In what way does Gratz demonstrate the importance of religious beliefs and traditions within Yanek's family?

9. How does Yanek contrast his own reaction to the closing of his school with the reactions of his peers?

10. How and why does Yanek lose trust in his father Oskar's word?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Trace the characterization arc of Yanek's character throughout the novel Prisoner B-3087. Discuss whether Yanek is a round or flat character and whether Yanek is a static or dynamic character.

Essay Topic 2

Could Prisoner B-3087 be classified as a coming-of-age story? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Gratz’s use of Aristotle's appeals within the text of Prisoner B-3087. How does Gratz use each of the three appeals to persuade the reader of messages central to the tenets of the work?

(see the answer keys)

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