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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Including Ivanovich and the Bureau employees, how many people are in the tour group?
(a) 8.
(b) 14.
(c) 10.
(d) 12.

2. What is the tour group doing in the passage that says "they raised dust along a highway" (12)?
(a) Fighting.
(b) Riding in a car.
(c) Walking.
(d) Digging.

3. On page 19, to what does the narrator compare Ivanovich's return journey, away from the lake?
(a) A "cruel, demeaning prank."
(b) A "soul-shattering nightmare."
(c) A "hideous fairy tale."
(d) A "sinister game."

4. Who wrote the book that Ivanovich opens on the train?
(a) Goethe.
(b) De Viau.
(c) Tiutchev.
(d) Donne.

5. What does Ivanovich do when he first sees the view of the lake?
(a) Presses his hand to his heart.
(b) Gasps aloud.
(c) Begins to weep.
(d) Falls to his knees.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ivanovich do to distract himself from "the absurdity and horror of the situation" (6)?

2. What relationship does Vasili Ivanovich have to the story's narrator?

3. Which of the following best characterizes the narrator's attitude toward the absurd process that Ivanovich is told he must follow to sell back the tickets?

4. What instrument does one of the men insist on teaching Ivanovich to play?

5. What is special about the room at the inn by the lake?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ivanovich end up losing the game that they play on the train, and what happens as a consequence?

2. What does Ivanovich do at each of the train stations on the first day of the trip, and what does this show about his character?

3. On the second day of the tour, what is Ivanovich doing from early morning until early evening?

4. Why is it such a relief to Ivanovich when the tour group finally stops for the night at an inn?

5. What happens when Ivanovich declares that he will stay at the lake instead of returning to Berlin?

6. What happens at dinnertime on the first day of the trip?

7. On the third day of the tour, what does Ivanovich see that makes him feel the happiness he dreamed he might find on the trip?

8. What role does singing seem to play on the tour that Ivanovich is on?

9. What is the difference between the narrative descriptions of people and of nature in this story?

10. How does Ivanovich end up going on a tour that he does not want to go on?

(see the answer keys)

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