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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 does Odilo Unverdorben see at Auschwitz when he visits with his family?

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

3. What token does Herta give to Odilo Unverdorben while they are courting?

4. What is the motto of the Schless-Hartheim camp?

5. How does Odilo Unverdorben's work affect his marriage?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Describe the narrator's relationship with Odilo Unverdorben's father.

3. What does the narrator think about Auschwitz when he sees it through Odilo Unverdorben's thirteen-year-old eyes?

4. Describe the narrator's relationship with Odilo Unverdorben in the years before/after Odilo began to work in the camps.

5. Describe the similarities and differences between Odilo Unverdorben and Uncle Pepi.

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

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

8. Describe Odilo Unverdorben's work in the Waffen Secret Service.

9. Describe the irony of the narrator thinking that Odilo Unverdorben and Herta are taking apart baby furniture and un-sewing baby clothes.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Uncle Pepi and Reverend Nicholas Kreditor are the two male characters who affect Odilo's life. Compare and contrast these characters.

1. How are they similar and how are they different?

2. How do they affect Odilo's life? Do they help him? How do they hurt him?

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

How does the narrator's attempt to make sense of Odilo Unverdorben's life parallel our attempts to make sense of the Holocaust? Do we live the Holocaust backwards the way he does? Does his emotional experience of the Holocaust coincide with ours? Are we just as emotionally detached? Give examples from the book as well as from your studies of the Holocaust

(see the answer keys)

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