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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 is each generation's joking response to "Let us speak of something gay"?

2. What is Ilse Bruckner first in at Ernie's school?

3. What does Ernie feel for the first time as he remembers fighting the Pimpfe?

4. What did Yankel, the young Galician, do to his fellow villagers?

5. What did Judith call Benjamin's affliction when they arrived at Stillenstadt?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What things does Mordecai believe to be incomprehensible?

3. What drama takes place between Judith and Fraulein Blumenthal as children are born?

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

5. What does Ernie's act of stepping forward to protest the treatment of Frau Tuszynski cause Mordecai to do?

6. What does Ernie think as he is surrounded by the Pimpfe bullies?

7. What does Ernie do to ease the emptiness in his heart after the beating?

8. Why does Judith object to Mordecai telling stories to Ernie?

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

10. Why is Jacob not consoled when Ernie promises to "spring" at the Hitler Youth if they bother the little boy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate this story in terms of tone and mood. Is it unrelentingly dark? Are there funny scenes? Are there lovable characters? Are all of the non-Jews evil? How does the author keep his reading audience from being overwhelmed by despair at this story? Use concrete examples and quotations from the story to support your ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Everyone in Ernie's family has a different view of God and what the deity will or will not do for humans. In your essay, discuss the contrasts among the various understandings of God.

Essay Topic 3

If Ernie is the last of the 36 Just Men to exist in world history, what does this tell you about the author's hopes for the future of the world? In your essay, explain why you think he takes this position.

(see the answer keys)

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