View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whose chess set does Luzhin get interested in?

2. How does Luzhin think fellow students feel about him?

3. How many games does it take before Luzhin's opponent begins having difficulty beating him?

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

5. What is Luzhin doing when he notices two other students taking out a chess set?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Luzhin resent while he is working on a puzzle?

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. What authors does Luzhin like to read?

9. How does Luzhin feel about his aunt?

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 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 the intellectual versus the social in the novel.

1) How does Luzhin fit into the intellectual world? How does he fit into the social world? How do these two worlds conflict?

2) How does Luzhin's wife fit into the intellectual and social worlds in the novel? How does this affect their relationship?

3) How does Luzhin's father fit into the intellectual an social worlds in the novel? How does this affect their relationship?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 824 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample