World Literature Exam with Answers

World Literature Test

Notes from the Underground (Do 10 out of 15)

1. How does the Underground Man prepare for his confrontation with the officer in the park?

 He takes boxing lessons
 He buys a pair of gloves and a beaver collar
 He bribes a park attendant to trip the officer
 He compiles a list of witty retorts to use in case the officer insults him

2. When do the other guests arrive at Zverkov’s dinner?

 At the same time that the Underground Man arrives
 Before the Underground Man arrives
 After the Underground Man arrives
 They never arrive

3. What does Liza show the Underground Man before he leaves the brothel?

 A picture of herself as a little girl
 A list of the St. Petersburg luminaries she has bedded
 A love letter from a medical student
 A bracelet that her mother gave her before she died

4. What does the Underground Man think of the theory that, as civilization progresses, mankind
becomes less likely to wage war?

 He agrees, because he thinks that developed men of the nineteenth century are too indecisive
to take any action at all, least of all starting or fighting a war
 He disagrees, because he thinks that war gives the individual a chance to show his valor and
ingenuity and achieve glory and heroism
 He agrees, because he thinks that civilization’s emphasis on reason will cause all disputes to be
resolved by contests of intellect rather than force
 He disagrees, because the amount of war and bloodshed in the nineteenth century surpasses
the amount of war and bloodshed in previous, less civilized eras

5. When the Underground Man was in school, how did he earn some respect from his fellow students?

 He seduced the headmaster’s daughter
 He wrote beautiful stories that moved them to tears
 He had great academic success
 He bested Zverkov in a duel

6. For what does the Underground Man say he will make Liza “pay dearly”?

 For seeing him in an embarrassing situation
 For sleeping with Zverkov
 For stealing money from him
 For rejecting his advances

, 7. Why does the Underground Man call the second half of his memoir “Apropos of the Wet Snow”?

 He is quoting a Pushkin poem of the same title
 He is implying that the snow is wet with his tears
 Because the falling snow reminds him of another day when snow was falling
 Because winter is his favorite season

8. What does the Underground Man put in Liza’s hand before she leaves his apartment?

 Money
 A letter
 A book
 A ring

9. How does the Underground Man make amends for his behavior at Zverkov’s farewell dinner?

 He invites the men out for drinks at his expense
 He writes an apology to Simonov and pays him back the money he owes
 He writes an article in praise of Zverkov in the paper
 He pays for the men to visit prostitutes

10. Why did the Underground Man’s one close friendship fall apart?

 He borrowed his friend’s money and could not repay
 The friend wore lemon-colored gloves, which the Underground Man thought were in poor taste
 He demanded that his friend totally submit to his will, and then hated the friend once he had
submitted
 The friend grew exasperated with the Underground Man’s belligerence and threw him out a
window

11. Why does the Underground Man think that active men stop pursuing their goals once they hit a
wall?

 They are too stupid to think of a way around the wall
 They have confidence in facts, and it is a fact that one cannot go through a wall
 Something near the wall distracts them
 They run into the wall and end up in the hospital

12. Why does the Underground Man think that sometimes 2 x 2 = 5 is better than 2 x 2 = 4?

 He is thinking about chaos theory
 He is irritated with the importance of reason in society
 He hates mathematics with a passion
 He never learned mathematics in school

13. Why did the Underground Man retire from his job in civil service?

 He got a better position in the military
 He wrote a best-selling novel
 He wanted to become a fulltime “lazybones”