View a FREE sample

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 many of the people who return to Prague from the concentration camps?

2. In which country is the ghetto that Kovály and her family are taken located?

3. In 1941, with whom does Kovály live in the ghetto where she is taken?

4. Which army reaches Prague in May 1945?

5. In which city does Kovály grow up?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Kovály find work in 1946?

2. What is said to have been the main topic of discussion for out of work Czechs after the war?

3. What complaint does Marta have about Vlada when Kovály met her?

4. How does Kovály secure herself an apartment following the war?

5. What is Kovály's last meeting with Margolius like?

6. Why is Kovály hesitant to get involved with the Communist Party?

7. Why do Kovály and her friends decide to try to escape the camp guards?

8. What do the Communists admit about the confessions made by political prisoners?

9. What happens economically in the spring of 1953?

10. How does the Margolius' lives change after Rudolf accepts a high-ranking government job?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the Iron Curtain. What is the Iron Curtain? What does the Iron Curtain have to do with Czechoslovakia? Does it affect Kovály directly? If so, how?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the motif of fear and terror in "Under A Cruel Star." Of what is Kovály and the citizens of Czechoslovakia fearful? How is their fear conveyed to others? How does Kovály experience the fear of others? How does this fear affect her? Who is terrorizing Czechoslovakia and why? How are they spreading terror?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the struggles that Kovály faces. How does she overcome these obstacles? Are the struggles similar to others in Czechoslovakia? If not, why is she experiencing them?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 824 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample