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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 old is Michael's daughter when he and his wife divorce?

2. What job does Michael eventually take?

3. What must Michael decide after his last state exam?

4. According to Michael in Chapter 1 of Part 3, what type of love are we not responsible for?

5. Why does Michael marry his wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Michael receive at the beginning of Chapter 6, and why does this cause him great joy?

2. In Chapter 16, why does Michael say he "finds it unendurable to do nothing"?

3. What does Michael do with his own writing?

4. Describe Gertrud and the relationship she develops with Michael as described in Chapter 2.

5. What does Michael decide to do after he and Gertrud separate in Chapter 5?

6. What does Michael say about his relationships after Gertrud?

7. What happens when Michael goes to talk to the judge in Chapter 16?

8. In Chapter 17, what is the atmosphere in the courtroom at the beginning of the sentencing?

9. Of Hanna's possessions, what does the daughter decide to keep, and why?

10. What does Michael notice about himself after he is taken to the hospital with fever?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

While Hanna is in prison, Michael resurrects his practice of reading to her. How does this simple act define their relationship? What does it symbolize? How is it connected to Michael's idea that Hanna has advanced from dependence to independence?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 3, Chapter 1, Michael describes a "German fate." What is the German fate? How does Michael equate the pain of his love for Hanna to his own German fate? How does their relationship parallel the generational conflict in Germany?

Essay Topic 3

Michael's family makes brief appearances in the novel. At the end of Part 1, Chapter 7, Michael notes that he feels as though he is saying his "final goodbyes" to them, although no one is going anywhere. Why might Michael have said that? What does his family symbolize? What, perhaps, were the author's intentions of having a young, teenaged Michael so emotionally estranged from his family?

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