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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 Plyushkin wish he had given Tchitchikov after he leaves?

2. What do Tchitchikov and Selifan hear while traveling in the rain that makes them realize they have reached a village?

3. What do townspeople worry will happen with Tchitchikov's new souls?

4. What color is the ribbon tied around the paperwork documenting Manilov's serfs?

5. What is the name of Plyushkin's eldest daughter?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Plyushkin so miserable?

2. Why is everyone in town talking about Tchitchikov at the beginning of Part 1, Chapter 8?

3. Why does Plyushkin sell his dead souls to Tchitchikov?

4. How do the people at the police captain's house treat Tchitchikov at the end of Part 1, Chapter 7?

5. How does the narrator describe Nozdroyov's character?

6. What does Nozdroyov do when he arrives at the ball?

7. Why does Tchitchikov tell Nozdroyov that he wants dead souls?

8. Why does Manilov decide to sell his dead souls to Tchitchikov?

9. Why does Madame Korobotcha sell her souls to Tchitchikov?

10. How do the women at the ball feel about Tchitchikov's interest in the general's daughter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Manilov and Nozdroyov. How are they alike? How are they different? How would the novel be different without them? Who has more of an effect on the plot of the novel? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of Nozdroyov's dark side and immorality? What is the author saying by giving a nobleman such a violent personality? How does the reader discover more about Tchitchikov through Nozdroyov's dark side?

Essay Topic 3

What is the purpose of having a biased narrator with a personality and opinions of his own? Does the narrator skew the reader's view of characters and events in the book? How is the book different once the biased narrator is gone?

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