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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 are two of Ivan Ilych's symptoms?
(a) Nose bleeds and a terrible limp.
(b) Other bruises appear on his body and the pain in his side.
(c) The weird taste in his mouth and the pain in his side.
(d) The weird taste in his mouth and his craving for blintzes.

2. When Ivan Ilych discovers what makes his pain worse, how does he deal with it?
(a) He cries.
(b) He ignores things that might upset him.
(c) Ivan becomes constantly on guard against anything that might distress him.
(d) He increases his dosage of his medication.

3. What does Ivan Ilych guess the doctor's prognosis is?
(a) Ivan doesn't guess at the doctor's prognosis.
(b) It is not as bad as he thought it was.
(c) It is very bad.
(d) It is nothing to worry about.

4. Why does Ivan Ilych's animosity toward his former colleagues vanish?
(a) Ivan Ilych's new position places him two steps above them.
(b) One of his former colleagues asks for his daughter's hand in marriage.
(c) He realizes he was being foolish.
(d) They give him the promotion when he returns from his leave of absence.

5. What does Ivan Ilych think of his marriage?
(a) It is happy.
(b) It is all he ever wanted.
(c) It is unhappy.
(d) It is exciting.

Short Answer Questions

1. After seeing himself for the first time in many months in the mirror, what reaction does Ivan Ilych have to what he sees?

2. Ivan Ilych finally realizes, after seeing himself in the mirror, that his condition is a question of what?

3. Why does Ivan Ilych have difficulty working?

4. What does Ivan Ilych recognize in the doctor's professional air?

5. Once settled, what makes Ivan Ilych irritable?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ivan cope with the knowledge that he is dying?

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

3. Why do Ivan's wife and his doctor give him opium?

4. What does Ivan's wife represent to him? Why does Ivan keep sending his wife out of the room?

5. What is Ivan's feeling of suffocation symbolize in Chapter 12?

6. In Chapter 2, how does Ivan see his life and why does he think this?

7. How does the author see Ivan's life and why?

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

9. What is the climax, or turning point, in "The Death of Ivan Ilych?"

10. How is Ivan characterized in Chapter 3?

(see the answer keys)

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