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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. Why have Luzhin's parents put off telling him that they've enrolled him in a school?

2. Where is Luzhin's father when the idea for a novel about a boy like his son hits him?

3. What is Luzhin's father's profession?

4. How does Luzhin treat the guests at his birthday?

5. What does the doctor give to Luzhin?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the nickname that the other boys give Luzhin at school.

2. How does Luzhin's father die?

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

4. How is Luzhin affected by spectators at his chess games?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the structure of the novel.

1) What divides the novel into sections or parts? What roles do these parts play over the course of the novel?

2) How does Luzhin develop over the course of the novel? How does he change?

3) Why does the novel begin in Luzhin's boyhood?

Essay Topic 2

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 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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