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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. When Mrs. Luzhin's intellectual guests gather at the tea table, what is the immediate response?

2. What does Luzhin feel like, when he moves into his new apartment after getting out of the hospital?

3. What does everyone mistake Luzhin's drawing of oranges for?

4. What item does Luzhin find in the lining of his pocket?

5. What is Luzhin given by the coat room when he turns in his jacket at the ball?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What catches Luzhin's attention to distract him from chess that he is accidentally reminded of?

3. What letter does Luzhin send to a stranger?

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

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

6. What books that his fiancee brings him in the sanatorium does Luzhin enjoy?

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

8. What memory of his father does Luzhin recall when he stops to buy fruit?

9. How does Luzhin's fiancee's mother react to the idea that Luzhin is drunk?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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