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

2. How does Luzhin's future wife perceive him when she first meets him?

3. During their walk the morning after the party, what does Luzhin's father suggest he take up?

4. When Luzhin meets his future wife's mother, what is the mother's opinion of him?

5. What excuse does Luzhin give the first day he skips school?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Luzhin ask his fiancee to do, on the second day she comes to his Berlin chess tournament?

4. What authors does Luzhin like to read?

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

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

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

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

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

10. What ability does Luzhin compare his ability to read chess notation with?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss obsession in the novel.

1) Why is Luzhin obsessed with chess? Is this unhealthy, as his psychiatrist suggests?

2) What are other characters' obsessions? Does Luzhin's father have an obsession? Does his wife have one? What about other characters?

3) Can Luzhin's obsession be broken? Should it be?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss identity and personhood in the novel.

1) Luzhin's identity is wrapped up in chess. Why and how?

2) Does Luzhin fit the definition of a person, as other characters perceive it? How does Luzhin not fit into others' ideas of a "person"?

3) What gives Luzhin identity besides chess playing? What elements add to his identity?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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