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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. Who helped Pommerer survive the war?

2. Who single-handedly fought against the DDR according to Robert?

3. Where is Bolle stationed that he learns skills in sabotage?

4. Who is the stranger that comes to talk to Pommerer in the bar and buys a round of drinks?

5. When Bolle jumps the wall, what does he tell the DDR guards that he wants?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Narrator's first encounter with Frieda in his apartment building.

2. Describe the Narrator's experience at the border with the guards and the man with the dog.

3. How does the Narrator identify with the German people and not politics?

4. How does Bolle become an agent for the Stasi?

5. What are some decadent pleasures that the Narrator enjoys in West Berlin?

6. How is Gartenschläger caught and killed?

7. What does Robert think of the police's participation in the violence in town?

8. Why does Gartenschläger attempt to get a self-triggering robot?

9. When the leather-bound storyteller is found to have graffiti, how does he extricate himself from the clutches of the DDR?

10. How do Robert and the Narrator differ in their view of news reports and their own role in it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the significance of the Wall? When was the Wall erected? How does it divide Berlin? How does it divide the people of Berlin? What does the Wall symbolize? What international relationships are changed as a result? Who gains or loses power?

Essay Topic 2

In "The Wall Jumper", Schneider's German society shows a conscious selectivity about technology. What do you think of the technology that Gartenschläger tries to steal? Which aspects do you find more or less appealing? How is technology associated with power and rebellion?

Essay Topic 3

Love and sexuality between the Narrator and Lena is a recurring theme. How does the Narrator's feelings about love change from the beginning of the novel to its end? In what ways has he expanded his awareness and beliefs? Is sexuality connected to love for the Narrator? How does his feelings for Lena develop and change and how does his relationship with her contrast with that of other women that he has had romantic feelings for or an idealized relationship with?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 943 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample