View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does this thriving upper-class tourist industry offer?
(a) Vendors lining the beach and even servants in the change huts to assist in the removal of bathing suits.
(b) Expensive restaurants, street vendors, and swimming lessons.
(c) Live performances, pubs and restaurants, and bicycles to rent.
(d) Gambling, live theatre, and music.

2. Of what are Nabokov's memories in a Russian setting?
(a) A quite Russian childhood.
(b) A quite English childhood.
(c) A quite German childhood.
(d) A quite French childhood.

3. From where does Mademoiselle come?
(a) Denmark.
(b) Switzerland.
(c) Africa.
(d) France.

4. How does Mr. Cummings influence Nabokov's scientific drawings of butterflies?
(a) He is Nabokov's butterfly instructor.
(b) He is Nabokov's drawing instructor.
(c) He is Nabokov's botanist.
(d) He is Nabokov's science instructor.

5. To whom does Nabokov feel the strongest bond of kinship?
(a) His mother's maternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.
(b) His father's maternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.
(c) His mother's paternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.
(d) His father's paternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.

6. During one such trip in the summer of 1909, who does young Nabokov meet?
(a) A young British girl, named Beth.
(b) A young Spanish girl, named Clara.
(c) A young French girl, named Colette.
(d) A young German girl, named Brigitte.

7. Why does Young Vladimir favor the new methods of studying butterflies?
(a) They are more efficient.
(b) They are easier to use.
(c) He enjoys delving into the minutiae of the subject.
(d) They are more exciting.

8. What is memorable about this first memory?
(a) He wonders where his parents are.
(b) He realizes he has the ability to control his own body.
(c) He understands that everyone must eat.
(d) He understands that he is a separate being from his father and mother.

9. Mademoiselle threatens several times to leave. Why does she end up staying?
(a) Nabokov's mother talks her into staying
(b) Nabokov's mother gives her gifts.
(c) Nabokov's mother threatens her.
(d) Nabokov's mother gives her a raise.

10. What does Young Vladimir discover in the family's attic?
(a) A small treasure trove of scientific books
(b) A book of his family's ancestry.
(c) Souvenirs from the family trips to France.
(d) A small collection of exotic butterflies.

11. Why does little Vladimir close his eyes at the bottom of each stairway?
(a) He and his mother are playing a game on the way to the children's sleeping rooms.
(b) His father is taking him to bed.
(c) He and his brother are playing hide and seek.
(d) His nanny is coaxing him up the stairs.

12. Who accompanies Vladimir and his companion on the beach?
(a) His cousiin, Yuri.
(b) A fox terrier.
(c) A cocker spaniel.
(d) The girl's little brother.

13. Each day, when he awakes, how can young Vladimir tell what kind of day it is?
(a) By the character of the light that slips through the shutters.
(b) By looking out of the window.
(c) By asking his mother to check the weather.
(d) By having the servants open the curtains.

14. When does Nabokov eventually discover a new species?
(a) At Cambridge.
(b) In Germany visiting his family.
(c) As a small boy in Russia.
(d) Not until he is an old man, living in exile in the United States.

15. What game does the whole family often play on the estate?
(a) Rounders.
(b) Lawn tennis.
(c) Badmitton.
(d) Lawn bowling.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the rain cause to grow on the estate?

2. In exile in America, when a ranger or marshal spots him traipsing into the backwoods, net in hand, what is he asked?

3. What is their mother's reaction when she sees that her children have opened the presents from their stockings early and poorly rewrapped them?

4. To whom is Chapter Five devoted?

5. In any of the memories he has from before his obsession began, Nabokov cannot recall the presence of butterflies. What can he recall afterward?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 690 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample