View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the only place in the world that had a bigger population of Jews than Vienna?

2. What were the golden serving dishes shaped like?

3. Who did Renoir not consider a real artist?

4. What did Viktor and his wife, Emmy, inherit?

5. What was Dreyfus accused of?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What passion did Charles and his love share?

3. What was expected of Viktor and his friends?

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

5. How did anti-Jewish feeling in France effect Charles?

6. Describe Edmund's relative Ignace von Ephrussi.

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

8. What evidence does de Waal to prove Charles was friends with all the great Paris artists of the late 19th century?

9. What was the family's goal in terms of their grain business?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main themes of the story. In what way are these themes relevant to the period? How does the author use character and setting to express these themes?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

In the book the author describes how the American attack and occupation changed Japan.

1. What was Japan like before the war? How did America ideals change Japan?

2. How did the Japanese cope with the change? Do they harbor any bitterness towards the Americans?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 799 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample