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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. Where does the narrator meet Sophie years after they lose touch?

2. Where does the narrator think she actually does see Ershadi in real life?

3. What do many people think a piece of black plastic that hangs on a fence in the refugee camp looks like?

4. Where is the narrator often drawn to at Three Winds?

5. What does the narrator of "Future Emergencies" discover a few weeks after the emergency?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Sophie sometimes do in the refugee camp to keep the others amused?

2. What is the ultimate reason the authorities give for distributing gas masks?

3. What does the narrator in the story "Seeing Ershadi" think about the film Taste of Cherry?

4. How does the narrator in the story "Future Emergencies" feel about the gas masks?

5. In the story "Amour," where does the narrator encounter Sophie again years after first meeting her?

6. Why does the narrator think the person she passes on the street who is wearing a gas mask is wearing the mask at the end of "Future Emergencies"?

7. What annoys Tamar about Ilana's story about how she met Sandor?

8. What prompts the narrator to get back in touch with Romi again after many years of not communicating?

9. What does the famous landscape architect instruct the narrator to do upon his death?

10. In the story "The Husband," how does Tamar's mother Ilana meet "the husband," Sandor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the story "The Husband," what initially makes Tamar so angry at hearing her mother's story of her visit from social services in Tel Aviv, during which she is told her long-lost "husband" has been found? Why does Tamar get so angry at this? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

In the story "End Days," why is it particularly disturbing to Noa that her parents, Leonard and Monica, are so sanguine about their own divorce? What do you think are the real reasons for Noa's feelings of turmoil and anguish following her parents' divorce? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay discussing the tactics, style and tone Krauss employs to communicate the setting of the refugee camp to the reader in the story "Amour."

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