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. How does Utz want to use the money he has in Switzerland?

2. What is Vaclav waiting for outside the church?

3. What does Utz slam on to the desk when someone questions his racial purity?

4. Who did Utz help during the war?

5. Whose tomb do the Hasids lay stone on?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did the Nazis preserve the Jewish cemetery?

2. How does Utz develop his theory about porcelain collecting?

3. What does the narrator observe about Utz's porcelain?

4. How did Utz lose his temper with the secret police?

5. How does Rabbi Loew stop Yossel from running amok?

6. How does Utz help people during the war?

7. Describe the stuffed bear in the Hotel Bristol.

8. How did the communist state divert people's attentions from the Christian rituals of Utz's funeral?

9. Why do the Jews think Adam was the first golem?

10. Why does Dr. Orlik study the household fly?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In 1992, George Sluizer directed a film version of Utz. How did the filmmakers adapt the themes to fit in with the new environment? How did these changes affect the meaning of the story?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how Communism affected one of the following areas in Utz's life.

1. Work.

2. Social life.

3. Intimate relationships.

Essay Topic 3

Examine the author's writing style. How would you describe the author's prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? What meaning does the author's style give to the story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 620 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample