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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 the name on the door where the narrator thinks that Tod Friendly has found an apartment?

2. In the narrator's experience, where is Tod Friendly when he begins to touch himself?

3. Who is the president of the United States at the beginning of the book?

4. What does John Young tell the Reverend Kreditor when they meet?

5. Where does Tod Friendly live in the beginning of the book?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the narrator's relationship with Irene?

2. What is Tod's relationship with the narrator?

3. What does the narrator understand about sex?

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

5. Describe how the narrator experiences driving.

6. What habits does Tod Friendly pick up over the course of the first chapter?

7. How does John Young/Hamilton de Souza feel about his body?

8. Describe some cases in which characters are wistful about the past.

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

10. Describe John Young/Hamilton de Souza/Odilo Unverdorben's feelings about fleeing to America after the war.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The first chapter is titled, 'What comes around goes around." What does this title mean?

1. Is Odilo brought to justice? Is he cleansed of his sins, or redeemed for his experiences? Does he suffer what he inflicted on others?

2. Is this title ironic, or is it intended literally. Cite specific examples from the text in your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Irene and Herta both have children whom they cannot keep. Compare and contrast the effects of this loss on Herta and Irene. How is the experience similar for the two women? How is it different? How does it affect their lives and their relationships with Odilo Unverdorben?

Essay Topic 3

Babies are a recurring image in Time's Arrow. Cite three instances where babies appear and describe their significance in the context where they occur; then describe their symbolic significance. What qualities do they represent in Odilo's life? In the narrator's? In the other characters?

(see the answer keys)

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