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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 kind of background did Wessell say a person should have to understand history better?

2. What was Dreyfus accused of?

3. What does the staircase in the medical insurance office curl up like?

4. What was the main export out of Odessa?

5. What publication does Charles write for?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the Dreyfus affair effect Jewish people?

2. How did Charles help Laforgue?

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

4. Why was Odessa an important city for the Jews?

5. What was expected of Viktor and his friends?

6. Why did Westerners view Japanese art as so different?

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

8. Why does Edmund think he has fallen for Charles?

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

10. Why was Japan a box of sweets for foreigners in the 1880s?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the following and discuss how it affects the tone of the stories and helps to express character and theme.

1. Setting

2. Point of view

3. Structure

4. Language

Essay Topic 3

How did his family's suffering effect de Waal's own upbringing? How has de Waal tried to cope with what his family has been through? Do the students think second and third generations can be effected by problems that occurred within their family over 50 years before?

(see the answer keys)

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