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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. What did Lopakhin's father do to him when Lopakhin was a child?

2. What does Anya suggest to Lyubov at the end of Act III?

3. What has the Post-Office Clerk said to Dunyasha in Act III, causing her giddiness?

4. Who arrives at the estate near the end of Act II?

5. Trofimov suggests that Lyubov do what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Deriganov? How does he/she play into the plot?

2. What are Lyubov's "sins," referred to by her in Act II?

3. What does Lyubov feel about her lover? How does she show her feelings?

4. What is the emotional state of Lopakhim in Act III? Why?

5. What event is taking place in the beginning of Act III? What purpose does this event serve to the story?

6. What is the emotional state of Lyubov at the beginning of Act III? Why?

7. Who is involved in a "love triangle" in the play? How?

8. How does Varya feel about Yepikhodov? What does she do to show her feelings?

9. Describe the setting of Act II. What characters are in the opening of the scene, and what are they doing?

10. What is the irony of the landowners in The Cherry Orchard?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the characters of Firs and Yasha. How are they related? What is the difference of these two characters' attitudes toward the other characters in the play? How do they show these differences? Physically, are they similar? How are they alike? How are they different?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the plot structure of The Cherry Orchard. Where does the exposition transition into rising action? Where is the climax of the narrative? What does the reader/audience learn in the falling action and denouement of the story?

Essay Topic 3

Chekhov was known as one of Europe's most "ecological playwrights." The use of trees and their demise was common in his works. How does this play out in The Cherry Orchard? What events during this time in history would have affected the ecological system in Russia? How does Chekhov use trees in The Cherry Orchard to make his political and ecological viewpoints known?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,073 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample