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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 the punishment for even minor violations of laws during the war?

2. What saves Vladek when he has a heart attack on the sidewalk?

3. Who were the guards at Srodula?

4. What happens when Vladek and Anja are followed after leaving Mrs. Motonowa’s house?

5. How does Art Spiegelman depict the Jews pretending to be Poles?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Mala at her wit’s end in the beginning of Chapter 6?

2. What convinces Vladek and Anja to try to flee to Hungary?

3. How is the “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” different from the rest of Maus?

4. What plan does Ilzecki propose to Vladek, and what is Anja’s response to this proposal?

5. Who is Haskel, and what is his position in the ghetto?

6. What kind of reception do Vladek and Anja get when they inquire with Mrs. Kawka about hiding with her?

7. How do Vladek and Anja end up staying with Mrs. Motonowa?

8. What does Artie learn from Vladek about Anja’s journals?

9. What was life like among the Zylberbergs after Vladek returned from the POW camp?

10. What does Vladek learn from Kahum Cohn’s example?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a character sketch of the author based on his style and content. What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

Essay Topic 2

Use this book as a meditation on the value of a five-star rating system. Is a five-star system sufficient to a book like this? Would you need to have sub-topics for the rating system, for plot, characterization, language, etc? What other sub-topics would you need? What value or importance gets lost in a five-star scale? Design a scale that would be better for this book.

Essay Topic 3

How would you rewrite Maus if you were to adapt it and make it your own? What part of the book would you preserve? What part would you change? Explain your motivation for the changes you would make.

(see the answer keys)

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