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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 happens to Tod Friendly's body over time?

2. What is Tod Friendly's car perched against when the narrator sees the policeman put Tod in his car?

3. With whom does John Young meet before his voyage to Europe?

4. When does the narrator begin to feel that the world is going to start making sense very soon?

5. How does the narrator feel about eating?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Tod Friendly enjoy being part of a crowd?

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

4. What is the key to substance for the narrator?

5. How does the narrator understand language?

6. What does the narrator think about Tod Friendly's dreams and memories?

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

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

9. What does the narrator understand about sex?

10. Can the reader sympathize with the narrator's sense of horror at John Young's work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Odilo Unverdorben immigrates to America to flee from his past.

1. What about America is attractive to him as a Nazi fugitive? Citing examples from the text as well as from your knowledge of American culture, describe the qualities that make America an attractive destination for Odilo. How does this compare or contrast with how we typically think of America? Is America a land of opportunity for Odilo as well?

2. If Odilo does not find contentment and forgiveness in the end, is this, to some extent, because he lives in America? Should America have been able to redeem him? Should America have brought him to justice?

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