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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 does the narrator say is the only true form of pleasure that exists?

2. What characteristic does the narrator hope his wife will have?

3. Whose life is like a ball of tangled yarn?

4. What is a semiheteronym?

5. What does tedium seem to attack, according to the narrator?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the office boy's travels and the narrator's view of them.

2. Why does the narrator say he never puts forth much effort into various aspects of his life?

3. What kinds of memories does the narrator have and why does he like to remember them?

4. According to the narrator, what is the only true form of pleasure that exists? Explain his reasoning.

5. Why are smells important to the narrator?

6. What is the gift of the common folk, according to the narrator?

7. Why doesn't the narrator believe that one person can truly love another?

8. Why are women considered to be nothing more than decor by the narrator?

9. Why does the narrator isolate himself, and how does it affect his sensitivity to worldly things?

10. Discuss the narrator's conflicting thoughts and statements about his wife.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are four common points of view in which literature is written: first person, third person objective, third person limited, and third person omniscient. Which point of view does the author use in this book? Is this the most effective point of view for this story? Could this story have been told from a different point of view and still been in the same genre?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the life of Fernando Pessoa. What contribution did he make to literature and how is that contribution relevant to The Book of Disquiet?

Essay Topic 3

A main character in a work of fiction has both good and bad qualities, giving the character dimension. In nonfiction, the main character is known as the subject. Soares is the subject of his own book. What are Soares good qualities? What are his bad qualities?

(see the answer keys)

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