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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following adjectives does Solzhenitsyn use to describe the powers of execution?

2. What type of prisoner was housed in TONs?

3. How old was Solzhenitsyn when he used to listen to the "boring, pallid daily records" of the trials?

4. Which of the following crimes is NOT mentioned by Solzhenitsyn as a crime punishable by death?

5. Which of the following activities could get a person sent to the punishment camps in TON?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were stolypins?

2. How was time in Gulag measured?

3. How did the peasants of Kotlas live after a Gulag prison was set up on their land in 1938?

4. Who was in charge of preparing stolypins for prisoner use, and how were the stolypins prepared?

5. Who were the sons of Gulag?

6. What did prisoners eat when they were being transported from one prison to another?

7. When and where did the first Gulag hunger strike occur?

8. What would prisoners drink while being transported?

9. Why did the Bolshevik Army turn on the church, and what do it get in return?

10. What changed about capital punishment after the revolt of 1952 in the Gulag prisons?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the memoir, Solzhenitsyn compares the real evil of the world (such as the evil of Gulag) to the evil forces presented in literature. First, describe Solzhenitsyn's personal definition of what evil is and where it is hiding in the world. Next, compare/contrast that definition to at least one of the literary greats Solzhenitsyn discusses in the book.

Essay Topic 2

Before arriving at Gulag prison, many prisoners, including Solzhenitsyn, spent time in local prisons training for their time at hard labor. Describe life for the prisoners in the local prisons, and compare/contrast their living conditions to those in Gulag. Explain how life for Solzhenitsyn, specifically, changed as he was moved from prison to prison.

Essay Topic 3

When the widespread arrests started sweeping through Russia, few political prisoners fought against their arrests. First, explain why many men didn't fight against their arrests, and what they thought would happen to them in their first days within the camp. Next, explain how hope was slowly dashed, and why many prisoners refused to commit suicide or attempt escape.

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