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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the author advise people to do if they feel they must disclose information about themselves to others?
(a) Use a pseudonym.
(b) Not to talk about family.
(c) Don't discuss feelings.
(d) Lie.

2. What does the narrator say are the only memories that exist?
(a) Memories of school.
(b) Memories of literature.
(c) Memories of his mother.
(d) Memories of his father.

3. What characteristic does the narrator hope his wife will have?
(a) Fertility.
(b) Sterility.
(c) Happiness.
(d) Depression.

4. Who does the narrator say should be banned to an island?
(a) All rich people.
(b) All poor people.
(c) All intelligent people.
(d) All stupid people.

5. What kinds of things tend to hurt the narrator easily, according to him?
(a) Comments made by the office boy.
(b) Small things.
(c) Criticism from his boss.
(d) Nothing.

6. What does the narrator say he lacks sufficient money to be?
(a) An intellectual man.
(b) A Godly man.
(c) A real dreamer.
(d) A Christian.

7. Who enjoys being sick?
(a) Valquez.
(b) The narrator's mother.
(c) The office boy.
(d) Soares.

8. What kind of people make the narrator feel physically sick?
(a) Poor.
(b) Common.
(c) Rich.
(d) Eccentric.

9. In Section 481, what is the location of comfort and familiarity that the narrator is experiencing?
(a) A fruit stand.
(b) A retail store.
(c) A vegetable market.
(d) A barber shop.

10. When was the manuscript for this book discovered?
(a) After the author completed the book.
(b) After the author was put in a nursing home.
(c) After the author told a relative that he'd hidden a manuscript.
(d) After the author's death.

11. Who, according to the narrator, is more seriously affected by tedium?
(a) People who work.
(b) People who don't work.
(c) People who are not religtious.
(d) People who are religious.

12. What does the narrator say a person must do in order to truly love something?
(a) Respect it.
(b) Own it.
(c) Fear it.
(d) Know it.

13. What job position -- if it existed -- does the narrator say he would be perfect to fill?
(a) Improver for art.
(b) Royal writer of words.
(c) Examiner of grammar.
(d) Arbiter of elegance.

14. Why does the narrator contend that a person cannot truly love another person?
(a) A person never really knows another person.
(b) It is impossible to fear a mere human.
(c) It is impossible to respect humanity.
(d) A person cannot own another person.

15. In what year was The Book of Disquiet first published in English?
(a) 1999.
(b) 1982.
(c) 1947.
(d) 1991.

Short Answer Questions

1. What objects of nature does the narrator discuss when he describes Spring?

2. Why does the narrator's dreaming become painful?

3. What does the narrator say that intelligent men should believe about God?

4. What smell brings back memories of the narrator's childhood?

5. To what natural occurrence does the narrator liken his own feelings of tedium?

(see the answer keys)

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