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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 does Rubashov do first when they lock him in his cell?

2. What does 406 say is the reason he is in prison?

3. How much did Rubashov have to pay for the taxi ride he took when he left Richard?

4. How did Vassilij get the scar on his neck?

5. What does Rubashov think the barber looks like?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Rubashov do after he is told he will get no breakfast?

2. What does Little Loewy tell Rubashov about Loewy’s life?

3. How is Rubashov given a chance to exercise? How is that carried out?

4. Where does Rubashov take the taxi when he leaves Richard? What does the driver do when they arrive there?

5. What does Rubashov daydream about on his seventh day in prison?

6. What happens to Rubashov the first time he is imprisoned?

7. What does Rubashov tell the warden when he is asked why he is not out of bed? What is the warden’s reply?

8. How does rub meet Prisoner 406 and what does the 406 show Rubashov?

9. What is Rubashov thinking by the time Ivanov leaves him the morning after Bogrov is killed?

10. What does Ivanov present to Rubashov during their first interview?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A prisoner in cell 406 was arrested in his country for communist activities. After 25 years in prison, he is pardoned. He is taken to the station by friends and sent to Russia, his life-long dream. In Russia he is arrested and put in prison. In prison he keeps insisting his friends put him on the wrong train and that someday he will get to Russia and be free.

Discuss the way in which prisoner 406 uses denial of his situation in order to mentally/emotionally survive circumstances which directly oppose what the prisoner has believed most of his life and had spent 25 years in prison for believing. Use examples from Darkness at Noon to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Stalin initiated the Moscow Show Trials. It was part of his manipulation to eliminate all those who could threaten his power. Based on Rubashov’s reflections about the Party and on what a revolution must do to stay in power, discuss the following:

Was Stalin solely responsible for the Moscow Show Trials, or do you think they reflect the inevitable tendency of the Bolsheviks? Use examples from Darkness at Noon to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the following:

Analyze and discuss what you think are the characteristics of a successful novel and why Darkness at Noon is or is not a successful novel based on your criteria. Do you think the criteria for a successful novel should be different if it is written for adults versus young adults?

(see the answer keys)

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