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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. On the night Michael cooks dinner for Hanna, in what room does he find her lingering?

2. In what language does Michael have to read the survivor's book?

3. What illness does the narrator suffer from in Chapter 1?

4. When is the indictment read?

5. In what month do the relocated trials take place?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Michael's daydreams from Chapter 13.

2. Describe Hanna's lawyer from Part 2, Chapter 3.

3. Describe Michael's feelings about his last years in school and his first years in university, as he relates them in Part 2, Chapter 1.

4. At the end of Chapter 11, what are the comparisons Michael makes to his predicament with the trial?

5. Describe Hanna's life, as she tells it to Michael in Chapter 9.

6. Why does Michael decide to talk to his father in Chapter 12?

7. How does Michael "betray" Hanna, as he explains in Chapter 15?

8. What does Michael do while staying home alone during the last week of vacation, in Chapter 12?

9. Describe the memory the narrator discusses in Chapter 7, when he is four years old. Why is it significant?

10. Describe the building on Bahnhofstrasse.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the trial, Michael talks about the feelings of numbness that overcome him. In Part 2, Chapter 4, Michael uses an analogy to convey his numbed feeling; a "hand pinching an arm numbed by an injection". Why might the author use this analogy? Why does Michael liken his feelings to those of another person, under anesthesia? How does this allow Michael to be active, but also removed from the novel?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 3, Chapter 10, the reader learns that Hanna commits suicide. How did the author foreshadow her suicide? Compare and contrast the tone of Hanna's correspondence with Michael and her behavior when they meet at the prison. What changed?

Essay Topic 3

The author uses an interesting technique in the beginning of the novel; he doesn't introduce the readers to Michael until Michael and Hanna formally introduce themselves. Why is this? Why might this technique be beneficial to the story? Why not? Do you think this was a conscious decision by the author? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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