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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 did Luzhin do the previous Christmas with the chocolates meant for his aunt?

2. What does Luzhin do with the chess set he has been carrying with him, after he is able to play openly with his father?

3. What kind of puzzles does Luzhin enjoy doing?

4. How long does Luzhin stay at his aunt's?

5. Luzhin spectacularly wins a chess game in Berlin after sacrificing what three pieces in a row?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Luzhin's father feel when he finally hears that his son is a prodigy?

2. How does Luzhin respond to his fiancee's parents' home?

3. How does Luzhin react to being caught cutting school?

4. How doe Luzhin's fiancee seem like a dream to him?

5. What is on Luzhin's father's mind during his first chess games with his son?

6. What problem does Luzhin have getting to his game with his final rival?

7. What happens when Luzhin is found hiding in his family's house at the end of Chapter 1?

8. How does Valentinov view Luzhin?

9. Describe Luzhin's future wife when he meets her in Germany.

10. How does Luzhin behave on walks with his future wife and her mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the psychiatric treatment of Luzhin in the book.

1) How does the psychiatrist view Luzhin? How does the psychiatrist's point of view and perspective affect how he treats Luzhin? Discuss the psychiatrist's ideas on Luzhin's childhood, on chess, and on marriage for Luzhin.

2) How effective is the psychiatrist's treatment of Luzhin? How does it benefit Luzhin, and how does it fail?

3) What affects the psychiatrist's ability to treat Luzhin?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss art and reflections of reality in the novel.

1) How is Luzhin's father's writing a reflection of reality? How is it a projection of his father's desires, a world of wish fulfillment? How does his writing compare to reality?

2) How do Luzhin's drawings reflect reality, and how do they reflect his perception of reality?

3) How is Luzhin's chess playing an art, and how is it not an art? How does it relate and compare to music? How does it reflect reality? How does it show Luzhin's perception of reality and his own wish fulfillment?

Essay Topic 3

Luzhin has difficulty with human relationships. Discuss love and human connection in the novel.

1) How does Luzhin form human connections, with his parents, his manager, his wife, his in-laws, and others? How are his human connections different from other people's?

2) Does Luzhin find love in the novel? Does he love others, and does he get love in return? How do his wife and his father love him?

3) Discuss the love relationships other than Luzhin's. How do his parents love or not love each other? How do his in-laws love each other? What other examples of love are there in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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