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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. How do the gentlemen react to the deliveries?

2. When Amalia's father finally took action after their disgrace, what did he do?

3. How does the landlord react to seeing K. in the corridor at the Gentlemen's Inn?

4. What is Frieda doing when K. returns to the schoolhouse in Chapter XV?

5. What do the gentlemen in the Gentlemen's Inn do to call the landlord?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Amalia accuse K. of using Barnabas for?

2. Why has Hans come to see K. and what is he supposed to be doing instead?

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

4. How does K. answer Frieda's mother's objections about him?

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

6. When does K. plan on visiting Hans' mother?

7. At what event does Amalia's family's disgrace begin?

8. Where do Jeremias and Frieda go to work after K. leaves?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the unspoken and unwritten rules in the novel.

1) What are the rules of behavior in the village? How do the people in the village know those rules?

2) What are the rules of behavior for secretaries in the Castle? How do the Castle employees know those rules?

3) What does K. think of unspoken and unwritten rules? What is the result of his attitude?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Throughout the novel, the characters desire favors from the upper class. Favors allow characters to get ahead in life, but both how they are acquired and whether they are deserved is ill-defined. Discuss the role of favors in the novel.

1) Is the lease of the Bridge Inn and the marriage between the landlady and landlord all a favor from Klamm to the landlady? In what ways is it ambiguous? What role does Klamm play in the landlady receiving these things?

2) What does K. expect to receive from Klamm? What does he believe you need to do to receive a favor?

3) What are characters in the novel willing to do for favors? Under what circumstances do the characters receive good things? Is it related to their actions?

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