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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 excuse does Luzhin give the first day he skips school?

2. Whose chess set does Luzhin get interested in?

3. What is Luzhin's problem in school?

4. When does Luzhin's father return after going into town during the summer?

5. How are Luzhin's grades at school?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Before playing with his son, how does Luzhin's father consider his own chess abilities?

3. What authors does Luzhin like to read?

4. Who does Luzhin nearly run into on the first day he skips school?

5. How does Valentinov view Luzhin?

6. Why does Luzhin's father decide that the boy he wants to write about, based on his son, will die young?

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

8. How does Luzhin's father die?

9. How does Luzhin's future wife feel about introducing him to her family?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Luzhin's character.

1) How is Luzhin different from other people? What are the consequences to him in his life?

2) Why is Luzhin obsessed with chess? What does Luzhin see and enjoy that most people don't?

3) What kind of world would Luzhin be happy in? In what ways is Luzhin mismatched to society, and why?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the relationships of parents and children in the novel.

1) How does Luzhin relate to his father? How does this relationship affect Luzhin throughout his life? How does this relationship evoke the relationship of Luzhin's father and grandfather?

2) What do parents expect from their children in the novel? What does Luzhin's father expect from him? What about his mother? What do Luzhin's wife's parents expect from her?

3) How do parents and children feel about each other? Do they love each other? What other emotions are related to parents and children?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss obsession in the novel.

1) Why is Luzhin obsessed with chess? Is this unhealthy, as his psychiatrist suggests?

2) What are other characters' obsessions? Does Luzhin's father have an obsession? Does his wife have one? What about other characters?

3) Can Luzhin's obsession be broken? Should it be?

(see the answer keys)

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