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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 does Luzhin drop that his future wife picks up and returns to him?

2. Whose telephone call does Luzhin eavesdrop on during the party?

3. What important historical events does Luzhin's father feel inhibited by having to include in every novel?

4. When Luzhin's family arrives in the city, where does Luzhin run off to?

5. What present does Luzhin's fiancee bring to him at his hotel room?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In Chapter 2, what school subject does Luzhin show interest in?

3. How does Luzhin feel about playing chess blind?

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

5. How does Luzhin's father die?

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

7. Why does Luzhin's mother leave her husband and son to return to Russia, and how does Luzhin's father react?

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

9. How does Luzhin senior's wife react when he has to go to town for the day?

10. The morning after the party, what are relations like between Luzhin's father, his aunt, and his mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss social norms and expectations in the novel.

1) How does Luzhin fit into society, and how do the norms and expectations of society affect him?

2) How are the normal, everyday tasks that people undertake different for Luzhin? How does this affect his ability to fit into society?

3) How do Luzhin's in-laws represent social norms and expectations, and how do they perceive Luzhin?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss conscious and unconscious awareness in the novel.

1) Is Luzhin conscious of what he wants, needs, and feels? How does he relate to his own feelings? What goes on below the surface in his mind?

2) How conscious is Luzhin's wife of her own motivations, needs, and feelings? How does she explain her motivations to herself?

3) How conscious are Luzhin's in-laws, parents, and psychiatrist of their own motivations and what drives them? How is Luzhin's father aware of his drives and needs?

Essay Topic 3

Luzhin's father expects his son to follow the patterns of the father's novels. Discuss Luzhin's father's expectations.

1) What effects do his father's expectations have on Luzhin? How much is Luzhin aware of his father's expectations, and how does he react to them?

2) How are Luzhin's father's expectations echoed in his wife's expectations?

3) What would Luzhin's father's relationship with a normal, average son be like? How would his expectations play out?

(see the answer keys)

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