The Secret Miracle Quizzes

Think you’ve got your head wrapped around The Secret Miracle? Put your knowledge to the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. What delay is the author referring to when he says, "That delay […] was caused by the administrative desire to work impersonally and deliberately, as vegetables do, or planets"?


Waiting for a visa
Waiting on hold for tech support
Waiting for an execution order
Bureaucracy in general
Q. Fill in the blanks of Jaromir's prayer: "In order to complete that _________, which can justify me and justify Thee as well, I need one more _________."


"Poem" and "stanza"
"Play" and "year"
"Novel" and "anecdote"
"Bomb" and "wire"
Q. What design is Jaromir referring to when he says, " He had intuitively hit upon the best way of hiding his shortcomings and giving full play to his strengths, the possibility of rescuing (albeit symbolically) that which was fundamental to his life"?


Spell-checking his work
Resisting Nazi control of Czechoslovakia until his death
Finishing his play
His secret plans
Q. Who/what is making a "rhythmic and unanimous sound, punctuated by the barking of orders"?


Firing squad that leads Jaromir to the execution site
Vanguard of the Third Reich marching into town
Nazis, when they arrest Jaromir
Guard dogs
Q. What does Borges compare to a labyrinth when he writes, "Painstakingly, motionlessly, secretly, he forged in time his grand invisible labyrinth"?


Jaromir's mind
Jaromir's writing
A maze
Jaromir's fortress of solitude