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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. At Luzhin's school, what teacher is out with a cold?

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

3. What kind of puzzles does Luzhin enjoy doing?

4. How does Luzhin hurt himself during the chess game with Turati?

5. What habit of Luzhin's particularly annoys his future wife's mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Luzhin's father die?

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

3. How does Luzhin's father compare his son to fictional characters?

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

5. How does Luzhin feel about his aunt?

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

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

8. When Luzhin watches the chess game between his classmates, what move excites him?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Luzhin is only known by his family name throughout most of the novel, and other major characters are never named at all. Discuss the use of names in the novel.

1) Why is Luzhin only known by his family name throughout the novel? Why is his personal name revealed at the end of the novel?

2) Why are the characters closest to Luzhin, like his wife, never named?

3) Why are characters who are relatively unimportant, like guests at a party or people the Luzhins run into on the street, given names? What does this show about the author's perspective?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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