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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 Natalia's mother teach at the University in Chapter 2: "The War"?

2. In what month does Natalia say she walked out with the nurses on strike in Chapter 1: "The Coast"?

3. What does Natalia say caused the fire in Chapter 6: "The Fire"?

4. The cannonball that is wedged into the orphanage wall is said to be from what kind of ship in Chapter 5: "The Orphanage"?

5. Who is the professor of biochemical engineering that failed to put in a good word for Natalia after her suspension?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Natalia describe her grandfather's reinvention of himself after the war in Chapter 6: "The Fire"?

2. How does Natalia describe her visit with her grandfather to Verimovo in Chapter 6: "The Fire"? Where did they go there?

3. How would you describe the change in the style of the narrative in the grandfather's story about the Deathless Man in Chapter 2: "The War"?

4. What are there portraits of all over the orphanage in Chapter 5: "The Orphanage"? What do these portraits signify?

5. What is symbolized by Natalia's grandfather's ritual visits to the zoo in the Prologue and Chapter 1: "The Coast"? How does this tradition play into the novel's themes?

6. What do Natalia and Zora go to the monastery to do in Chapter 5: "The Orphanage"? What is foreshadowed when Zora gives out candy?

7. How does Gavran Gaile describe his supernatural abilities in Chapter 6: "The Fire"? How did he attain these abilities?

8. What incident involving being detained by customs officers at the border does Natalia describe in Chapter 6: "The Fire"?

9. In Chapter 2: "The War," Natalia comments, "Everything necessary to understand my grandfather lies between two stories." What are these stories and what does Natalia mean by this comment?

10. Why are the diggers digging in the vineyard in Chapter 3: "The Diggers"? How does the objective of the diggers relate to the novel's themes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. When was this book published? Who are the main characters in the story? What does The Jungle Book symbolize to Natalia’s grandfather? Who gave him the book? What does the lack of the book in the grandfather’s personal effects represent to Natalia?

Essay Topic 2

In the novel’s Epilogue, Natalia says of the Galina tiger, “Everything lies dead in his memory, except for the tiger's wife, for whom, on certain nights, he goes calling, making that tight note that falls and falls. The sound is lonely, and low, and no-one hears it any more.” In what ways does Natalia’s metaphoric meaning refer to the various tigers that appear in the narrative? In what ways does that meaning also refer to the various characters and their lives, particularly their thematically central struggles to live their own lives?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the tone and mood established in the Prologue and Chapter 1: “The Coast.” How are “tone” and “mood” defined? What differentiates the two? What literary devices does the author use to establish this tone and mood? In what ways are the tone and mood related to the setting and characters introduced?

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