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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. What is the name of the "aimless" and troubled man?

2. What other institution was visited by Christopher?

3. What is a common activity in the Nowak house?

4. What is this character's profession?

5. Who does the daughter marry?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Christopher describe the situation?

2. How does Christopher end up living with Otto and his mother, Frau Nowak? Describe the atmosphere.

3. What was Christopher's reaction to being flirted with by two of the three ill women at the sanitarium?

4. What happens to Bernard at the end of the story? What does it really mean?

5. Peter shows several instances of mental illness. Describe the illness and what Peter has chosen to do about it.

6. What are Christopher's final thoughts on the events of the past several years?

7. What events lead up to the first problems with Sally and Christopher?

8. With which two family members does Christopher seem to connect with the most?

9. When do the events in Section five take place? What is the basis of the vignette?

10. How does the narrator describe Sally Bowles?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sally Bowles was a gold digger. The author states that Sally was a mediocre singer with grand aspirations. As a result, Sally thought it was a good idea to latch onto wealthy men with money. In other words, Sally was looking for a "sugar daddy." Discuss the practice of men and women becoming involved with others in order to take advantage of their wealth and/or position. Does it ever work? Is it illegal or immoral? Would you do it? Did it work out for Sally?

Essay Topic 2

Bradshaw talks about the persecution of the Jews at the hand of Hitler and the SS. Aside from the horror of the deaths, Bradshaw cannot help but think of his friends that are Jewish. Bradshaw wonders which have been tortured and which are dead. How would you feel in Bradshaw's shoes? Is there anything Bradshaw could have done to protect his friends? Does Bradshaw ever find out what happened to Rudi and the others?

Essay Topic 3

In the beginning of A Berlin Diary, Isherwood refers to himself as a camera. Isherwood says, "I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking." Why do you think Isherwood used the camera as a metaphor? Why would Isherwood want to record everything around him yet not think about or analyze it? What other references are made to the camera throughout the text? What other metaphors might have worked as well or better?

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