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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. Why does Ivan Ilych try to replace thoughts of death?
(a) To protect himself.
(b) He thinks he is being foolish.
(c) He thinks he can still get well.
(d) He is too busy to think about it.

2. Who says, "death will come to everyone as God's will?"
(a) Peter Ivanovich.
(b) Ivan Ilych's son.
(c) Praskovya Fedorovna.
(d) Gerasim.

3. What does Ivan Ilych hear down the hall?
(a) His family getting the house ready for the party that night.
(b) An intruder.
(c) His family visiting with his brother-in-law.
(d) Footsteps.

4. In Chapter 6, is Ivan able to replace his thoughts of death?
(a) No, it doesn't work anymore.
(b) Yes, it works brilliantly.
(c) No, not all the time.
(d) Yes, but it takes time.

5. How does Ivan try to live?
(a) Carefree.
(b) With love in his heart toward all.
(c) Carefully, so as not to make his condition worse.
(d) As he lived before he was dying.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the doctor respond when Ivan Ilych presses him for an answer to the seriousness of his symptoms?

2. What game does Ivan Ilych like to play?

3. How does Ivan Ilych's relationship with his wife affect his work?

4. What is the setting of Chapter 1?

5. How many of Ivan Ilych's children die?

Short Essay Questions

1. Is the author's definition of the "good life" the same as that of Ivan and his wife? Support your answer.

2. What explanation does Ivan come up with to explain why his past memories make him feel the way they do?

3. How could Ivan's death serve as an awakening for his lifetime acquaintance, Peter? Does Peter avail himself of this awakening?

4. Why is Ivan so upset that he didn't get the promotion?

5. How is it possible that Ivan hasn't seen how thin and yellow he looks until his brother-in-law arrives?

6. What does Gerasim symbolize?

7. What is ironic about the opening of Chapter 3 when it states that 1880 is "the hardest year of Ivan's life?"

8. How is Ivan's experience of death in Chapter 2 similar to Peter Ivanovich's experience of death in Chapter 1?

9. Discuss how Ivan's memories of the past make him feel.

10. Name four components of the plot in Chapter 1.

(see the answer keys)

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