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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does the family spend their time in this town?
(a) On the beach.
(b) Shopping.
(c) Mountain climbing.
(d) On a boat.

2. How long does the family stay in Paris?
(a) One month.
(b) One night.
(c) One week.
(d) Six months.

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

4. To what does the memory of the bracelet lead?
(a) An important memory about Colette.
(b) An important memory about his mother.
(c) An important memory about Mademoiselle.
(d) An important memory about his father.

5. Where does Nabokov's mother trick Dimitri into believing he is still?
(a) In Greece.
(b) In Russia.
(c) In France.
(d) In London.

Short Answer Questions

1. How do the aristocrats confront the ocean waves?

2. It is unusual for aristocrats in Russian to be hanged, and as a child, what does Nabokov call the trail through the woods on the estate where a previous owner had been hanged?

3. What does Nabokov's mother do on the trip to Paris?

4. For whom is young Vladimir mistaken?

5. What is seen as a dreaded event?

Short Essay Questions

1. What evidence does the chapter give of Nabokov's bourgeois, aristocratic life?

2. How does Nabokov meet Mademoiselle after she leaves Russia?

3. How does his butterfly hobby affect his life?

4. What does he learn about himself, regarding Russian poets?

5. Why does Nabokov have trouble sleeping?

6. What is happening in the science of butterflies?

7. Why does Mademoiselle want to leave the family?

8. What is the process Nabokov goes through to create a poem?

9. The aristocratic Nabokov house is stocked with English and French amenities. What are some of the amenities?

10. How are the Nabokov's affected by their son? What do we learn about Dmitri, as he grows?

(see the answer keys)

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