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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 assigned the part of a Jew, what does Ernie refuse to do?

2. What were the Levys never able to identify about the Just Man in their family?

3. Why does Ernie decide that he cannot be a Just Man as he cleans his wounds after the bullying?

4. How does Ernie's family learn that the squadron of anti-Semites is coming?

5. Why does Ernie remain calm through the Pimpfe's cruel treatment of him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes Ernie to feel hatred for the first time?

2. Why does Herr Geek see the Jews as a threat to Germany?

3. What does Ernie have in common with the German boy he meets when he runs away from home?

4. How does Judith recognize Mordecai as a Just Man?

5. What "mysterious" change takes place in Benjamin after Mordecai and Judith join him in Stillenstadt?

6. What is the role of the Lamed-Vov, the Just Men?

7. Why does Yankel, the Galician, advise Benjamin to get out of Berlin?

8. What rationale does Rabbi Yom Tov Levy offer for the mass murder and suicide he instigates?

9. Why doesn't Ernie sing with his class when Herr Geek orders him to do so?

10. What solution does Moritz think would relieve the Jews of the danger involved in going to the synagogue.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author often uses a sardonic tone describing, for instance, the "kind" treatment of the detainees by the German guards. In your essay, find examples of this tone and explain why you think the author used it. What effect did it have on you as a reader?

Essay Topic 2

An author has the option to write from the point of view of a particular character, a limited point of view in which he is able to explain the thoughts of some characters, or to write from an author omniscient point of view, in which he is able to explicate the thoughts of all of the characters. Which author point of view has Schwarz-Bart used in this story? Has he really understood the ideas and motivations of the Nazis? In your essay, validate your opinion with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

The author spends a large part of the book establishing a genealogy for Ernie that places him as the last of the Just Men. In your essay, select some of Ernie's ancestors and explain how the characteristics they demonstrated in their lifetimes are apparent in his actions.

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