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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 was the family's response to being ostracized by the community?

2. What does K. see being delivered in the Gentlemen's Inn, as the morning approaches?

3. Who led the family toward Sortini when they saw him approaching?

4. Who tells K. that Olga is in love with him?

5. What does Frieda say that K. wants from Hans' family?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does K. respond to what Barnabas tells him about the Castle?

2. What was Amalia's father hoping for at his work, before the family's disgrace?

3. What reason does Erlanger give K. the request Erlanger is making during the meeting?

4. What is Frieda doing for Jeremias at the end of Chapter XXII?

5. What does Barnabas' family think about his job with the Castle?

6. What reason does Amalia give K. that he will have to come visit them more often?

7. What does Buergel say might happen at a meeting in the middle of the night?

8. How long does K. need to wait to see Erlanger?

9. What did the townspeople do after Amalia's disobedience became known?

10. What did Olga do to try to remove her family's disgrace?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, the bureaucracy of the Castle is both very powerful and lacking in power. Discuss this dynamic.

1) In what ways is the bureaucracy of the Castle powerful? How does it control people's actions?

2) In what ways does the bureaucracy of the Castle lack power? How does K. manage to defy the bureaucracy?

3) How does the bureaucracy's power, and lack of power, affect Amalia and her family?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the setting of the novel.

1) Discuss the Castle as part of the setting of the novel. Why does the reader never visit the inside of the Castle? How does the reader learn about the Castle? What does the appearance and structure of the Castle say about it and about the village?

2) How does the setting of the village influence the novel?

3) Why do the inns become a major part of the novel's setting? What is the importance of the two inns in the novel?

4) What significance does the schoolhouse have as a setting?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the town's acceptance of K. as a stranger.

1) How do the people in the town feel about strangers and outsiders? What is the culture's attitude toward outsiders?

2) In what ways does K. become accepted in the town? What role does his relationship with the Castle play in his acceptance? What role does his engagement to Frieda play in his acceptance?

3) In what ways does K. remain an outsider in the town? Is K. responsible for remaining an outsider, and to what extent?

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