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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. What technique is used in the phrase "Wispy clouds—greyhounds of heaven" (6)?
(a) Allegory.
(b) Synechdoche.
(c) Metonymy.
(d) Metaphor.

2. At the inn near the lake, what nationality does Ivanovich believe the innkeeper to be?
(a) German.
(b) Italian.
(c) Russian.
(d) Austrian.

3. Who greets Ivanovich at the inn near the lake?
(a) The innkeeper.
(b) A goose.
(c) A pretty girl.
(d) A puppy.

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

5. What relationship does Vasili Ivanovich have to the story's narrator?
(a) He is a man whom the narrator met on a group tour.
(b) He is the man who was once in love with the narrator's wife.
(c) He is the narrator's former employee.
(d) He is the narrator's brother-in-law.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the Bureau's song equate with solitude?

2. From context, what is the likely meaning of the word "dactyl" in "On the other side...towered, arising from dactyl to dactyl, an ancient black castle" (14)?

3. After dinner, what do the other tour members insist that Ivanovich do?

4. Who wrote the book that Ivanovich opens on the train?

5. How long has Ivanovich been in love with a married woman?

Short Essay Questions

1. With whom does Ivanovich spend the first night, and how does this person keep Ivanovich awake?

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

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

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

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

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

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. Describe the game that the passengers come up with to play on the train.

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

10. Who is Schramm and what function does he serve on the trip?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 990 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample