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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 kind of puzzles does Luzhin enjoy doing?

2. What does Luzhin's mother always have beside her, after she injures herself?

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

4. What kind of party does Luzhin's father give in honor of Luzhin's grandfather?

5. Three days before Luzhin's departure, when he is walking with his future wife and her mother, what does the mother ask her daughter to run back and get for her?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What authors does Luzhin like to read?

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

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

5. How does Luzhin feel about his aunt?

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

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

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

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

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

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 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'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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