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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 Frieda's relationship with Klamm?

2. Who does K. meet and ask questions about the Castle?

3. What answer does K. get when he calls the Castle himself for permission to visit?

4. What does the gentleman want K. to do?

5. Why do the characters have trouble sleeping at the school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does K. do to get fuel for a fire?

2. What is K.'s attitude toward the gentleman in Chapter IX?

3. What reason does the teacher give that the chairman wants to help K.?

4. What does K. praise Frieda for?

5. Who are the people in the house K. stops at on his way toward the Castle?

6. What does the landlady say will happen to the record of K.'s talk with the gentleman?

7. How does K. feel in the village?

8. What does K. believe is the reason that Hans and his family never received favors from Klamm?

9. What does the gentleman who comes to the coach while K. is there waiting want?

10. What does K. call Artur and Jeremias and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, the constructed reality of the culture is more important than a natural reality. The rules of the culture are artificial, created by people and enforced by people on themselves. Discuss constructed reality in the novel.

1) In what way is the life of the town artificial? How does this allow K. to break rules and do things other characters constrained by the constructed reality couldn't do?

2) What makes the constructed reality of the culture of the village powerful? Why is it important to the characters in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

The bureaucracy of the Castle seems to have no guiding force or leader, and is self-reinforcing, following only rules and regulations. Discuss the leaderless nature of the machine of bureaucracy.

1) Who assesses how well the bureaucracy of the Castle is functioning? What are the consequences?

2) How does the Castle itself function as a leader for the village? What are the consequences of the fact that the Castle is not a person, but an institution? What difference would it make if instead of a Castle, the village followed a King?

3) What controls the Castle? How is bureaucratic control different than control by a leader?

Essay Topic 3

Obedience is an important aspect of the characters' lives in the village. Discuss the role of obedience in the novel.

1) To whom are the characters in the novel obedient or disobedient?

2) What happens to characters who disobey authority in the novel? For what reasons do the characters disobey authority?

3) Why does the culture in the story value obedience?

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