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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 businessman was given the title of King of the Jews?

2. Why did Renoir say Charles was drawn to gaudy colors?

3. What was Renoir accused of by his peers?

4. What was the name of the man that Charles brought his netsukes from?

5. What is the title of Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Charles start collecting?

2. How does Edmund imagine the house was like when Charles and his brothers lived there?

3. How does Edmund describe his family's palais?

4. What does Edmund learn about Charles at the end of Chapter 3?

5. How did the Dreyfus affair change Charles' attitude towards life?

6. How did Charles live his life differently from his brothers?

7. What were Herr Wessel's teaching methods?

8. What did Drumont write about Jews in his anti-Semetic newspaper?

9. What can de Waal envision as he scans Charles' room?

10. Describe Edmund's relative Ignace von Ephrussi.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the city's de Waal visits in the book.

1. How did war change the city? What was it like before the war?

2. How did each city help develop the identity of de Waal's family?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the journey of the netsuke. Why is the journey the netsuke took so important to de Waal and his family?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the book's chronological setting.

1. What were the main concerns during the early part of the 20th century? How does the author express these concerns?

2. How would the author change the book if it was set in today's society?

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