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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 make of car does Semperweiss drive?

2. At what altitude is the sanatorium?

3. In what town is Klara interred?

4. On what street did Mieczyś and his father visit a restaurant weekly?

5. From which of the following did Mieczyś travel to reach Görbersdorf?

Short Essay Questions

1. To what does the novel ascribe the colors of fall foliage?

2. What does August posit is “the basis of old age” (57)?

3. How do those where Mieczyś seeks treatment mark their graves?

4. Why does Mieczyś’s father reject the idea of an independent Poland?

5. What does Thilo claim is “the most common mistake people make when they’re in danger” (49)?

6. Why does Frommer note that nearby witchcraft trials had ended?

7. Why is Mieczyś unable to read novels?

8. Why does Mieczyś study mathematics and chemistry?

9. What are the witches’ mouths to which Willi leads Mieczyś and his fellow-lodgers?

10. Why does Mieczyś report his diet to his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A lack of formal sectional division in the novel obliges a fairly arbitrary breakdown of the text for purposes of study and discussion. How might the novel be sectioned off other than it currently is? Why might those divisions be appropriate, based on the text and its contexts of composition and reception?

Essay Topic 2

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does The Empusium bear as much out?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the discussion in Chapter 5 of the nature and purpose of art. Do any of the members of Mieczyś’s group have the right of it? If so, which, and how? If not, who is closest, and why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 528 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample