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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 difference does Mrs. Luzhin see between Germany and Russia?

2. When Mrs. Luzhin comes to bed on her wedding night, where is her husband?

3. After Luzhin disappears, what does Petrishchev think?

4. What fault does Luzhin's fiancee find with the material Luzhin selects?

5. What does Mrs. Luzhin show her husband, in a painting of the Last Supper?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Luzhin think is the point of the "game" being played against him?

2. How does Luzhin act in the days before his wedding?

3. How does Luzhin read?

4. What word keeps going through Mrs. Luzhin's mind on her wedding night, and what does it mean?

5. How does Luzhin react after meeting an old acquaintance at the ball?

6. Why doesn't Luzhin's fiancee ask him about his tuxedo?

7. How to Kurt and Karl know where to send Luzhin in the taxi?

8. What does Valentinov want Luzhin to do for him?

9. At the ball, how does Mrs. Luzhin compare the movie actresses to her husband in her mind?

10. Why does Mrs. Luzhin find it difficult to locate her husband at the ball?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

After Luzhin's breakdown, he goes through a period of retirement from chess, in which he in many way relives his childhood. Discuss this repetition of the past and the air of fatalism it has.

1) Is Luzhin fated to be drawn back to chess? What forces seem to draw him irrevocably to chess?

2) Is Luzhin replaying his childhood because the forces of his character naturally cause him to have the same relationships and do the same types of things? Is this fate? Can Luzhin change? Can the world around him change?

3) In what ways is Luzhin's childhood different from his adulthood with his wife? How does Luzhin change? Does this show any ability to break free of the repetition?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the point of view of the novel.

1) What insight does the reader gain into Luzhin's character through seeing his point of view that other characters are blind to?

2) Why does the author choose to show the points of view that he does at the times that he does? Why does the author show us Luzhin's father's point of view, his wife's point of view, and his mother-in-law's point of view? What insights do these shifts in point of view give the reader?

3) What characters' points of view are not included in the novel? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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