1. Read the passage about Tatyana's dream in Pushkin's Eugene Onegin and summarize it. Why do you think Esther likes it so much?

2. Read about the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 and find out what it provided for.

3. Try to find Adlai Stevenson's articles on Rubtsovsk and report on what he said about it.

4. Look up Vilna (Vilnius) in a historical atlas and trace its history over the last one hundred years.

5. Choose three characters from The Endless Steppe and discuss how they contribute to Esther's development.