Chapter 1 | Three Red Spots on a Handkerchief | Quiz and Test

Three Red Spots on a Handkerchief 

1. TRUE OR FALSE

1. Pierrot Fischer is a seven-year-old boy living in Paris at the beginning of the book.

2. Wilhelm, Pierrot's father, is dead at the start of the story.

3. The Durand sisters’ orphanage is characterized by warmth and a welcoming atmosphere.

2. REFLECTION: What impact did the absence of a father have on Pierrot's life?

3. COMPREHENSION. Complete the following summary:

The book opens in Paris, 1936. While there are small hints that World War II looms on the historical horizon (it begins in 1939), the novel’s first chapter focuses on introducing the world of seven-year-old Pierrot Fischer. His mother, Émilie, is 1.______________ (NATIONALITY), while his father Wilhelm, who died three years ago, was 2.______________ (NATIONALITY). Pierrot grows up speaking both 3.____________ and 4._______________. (LANGUAGES)

Wilhelm was a soldier in World War I but later worked as a waiter in a restaurant near the Fischer’s home. His experiences as a solder scarred him deeply, and he continued to suffer years later. He periodically drank heavily to “forget” the things he saw and did. Occasionally, he became 5._____________________ (ADJECTIVE) toward Émilie. After one terrible episode when Pierrot was four, Wilhelm left home and never returned, dying a few weeks later after a 6:___________ struck him (HOW HE DIED).

Pierrot now lives alone with his mother, who works as a 7._______________ (JOB CATEGORY) in the same 8._________________ (WORKPLACE) her husband once did. Bullied in school for being 9.__________________ (ADJECTIVE) (he is nicknamed “Le Petit”), Pierrot prefers to spend his time either in the restaurant or with his Jewish neighbour, Anshel Bronstein. Anshel is deaf, but he teaches Pierrot 10. ______________. (LANGUAGE, TWO WORDS).