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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. How does the narrator think Odilo Unverdorben's father would take away Odilo's pain?

2. On which front does Odilo Unverdorben serve in the Waffen Secret Service?

3. What does the narrator think Uncle Pepi's work is?

4. The narrator says that he loves Herta as much as whom?

5. What do Odilo Unverdorben and Herta discuss while she is pregnant?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Odilo Unverdorben's relationship with Herta change when he arrives at Schless-Hartheim?

2. How does the killing change from Schless-Hartheim to Auschwitz?

3. As Odilo Unverdorben ages, how is the narrator affected by his time at Auschwitz?

4. What are the conditions the narrator finds when Odile Unverdorben arrives at Auschwitz?

5. How is the narrator right about Odilo Unverdorben's personality as a young man?

6. How does the narrator describe the Jews' experiences at Auschwitz?

7. Describe Odilo Unverdorben's courtship of Herta.

8. How does the narrator's impression of the killings at Schless-Hartheim increase the reader's sense of sympathy for the people the Nazis killed there?

9. Describe Odilo Unverdorben's relationship with his father.

10. Describe Odilo Unverdorben's relationship with his mother.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Men and women have different perspectives on the events of this book.

1. How do men's and women's perspectives differ? How are they similar? How would you characterize men's perspectives, and how would you characterize women's? Do individuals have both male and female characteristics?

2. Where do men's and women's perspectives and values come into conflict? Whose values or whose power wins those conflicts?

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 has major relationships with two women, in addition to passing encounters with other women from time to time.

1. Compare and contrast his relationship with Irene and his marriage to Herta. How are these relationships similar? How are they different?

2. Describe Odilo's relationships with women other than Irene and Herta. How are these relationships different from his relationship with Irene and his marriage to Herta? What does Odilo want from each of the different relationships? What does he get?

(see the answer keys)

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