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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 does Herr Kremer believe about children?

2. Why does Mordecai say their hearts are not entirely Jewish?

3. How does Ernie reflexively defend himself against the bullying of the Pimpfe?

4. What is the title of the march of the Pimpfe?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Benjamin imagine will happen to the Jews as they become acquainted with Germans?

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

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

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

5. Why do Mordecai and Judith decide that Benjamin is like a mosquito?

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

7. How is Benjamin received by the Jews in Stillenstadt?

8. What qualities of character does Brother Beast possess?

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

10. How does Benjamin successfully market himself as a tailor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Schwarz-Bart includes a number of characters who represent wide segments of society in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. In your essay, select two or three characters such as the nurse in the infirmary, the farmer's wife, the young Galician, or Herr Geek and explain what purpose they serve in presenting the reader with a panoramic viewpoint of the culture at that time.

Essay Topic 2

The author puts himself into the story more than once. In your essay, find the moments in which the author shares his own feelings with the reader, and evaluate this device. Does he belong in the story? Why or why not? Is he sharing his feelings because they are similar to yours? What ultimately gives him relief from the grief he experiences as he composes this story?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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