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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 Irene saying the first time the narrator hears her voice?

2. What can the narrator control?

3. What day follows October 1 in the narrator's experience?

4. How does the narrator learn to make sense of what people say?

5. What color is the hospital, regardless of the season?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the underground system for taking care of Nazis.

2. What condition is Europe in when Odilo Unverdorben leaves?

3. How does the narrator feel about the change from America to Europe?

4. How does the narrator understand language?

5. Describe how the narrator experiences driving.

6. What are some of the terms the narrator coins in order to make things make sense?

7. Describe the narrator's mindset at the beginning of the novel.

8. Describe John Young's departure from Europe.

9. Describe how the narrator feels about Tod Friendly's work?

10. What do Tod Friendly/John Young/Hamilton de Souza/Odilo Unverdorben's name changes tell us about his character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Experiencing everything backward, the narrator mistakes helping people for hurting people and vice versa. Citing specific examples from the text, explore the meaning of this backwardness.

1. Does the narrator experience normal human reactions to what he sees, or are his emotions backward too? Can we trust him to have feelings based on what he sees?

2. Does the narrator's backwardness portray pain and assistance in a new or surprising light? What do we learn from the narrator about how people hurt or help each other?

3. Does the narrator's backwardness make us more or less sensitive to people's sufferings?

Essay Topic 2

The narrator's backwardness is a unique perspective for a narration. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this conceit? What can you see in reverse that you might not see going forward? Describe the mechanisms and the effect of the irony or the humor this type of narrative creates.

Essay Topic 3

The narrator and Odilo both have secret knowledge which others around them do not know.

1. Citing specific examples from the text, describe the effect of secrets on Odilo and the narrator. Who can they tell? Who do they have to keep the secrets from? How do the secrets affect their decisions or their feelings?

2. What part do the secrets play in the characters' development? What kinds of things are possible because of their secret knowledge? What kinds of things are impossible?

3. Why is Odilo afraid of being found out? Is there ever a time when he acts honestly, or considers revealing his secret to another character?

(see the answer keys)

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