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

3. What are the symptoms that Ivan Ilych has?
(a) He is unable to walk and or lift his right arm.
(b) He has gained a lot of weight and limps.
(c) He had terrible headaches and is balding.
(d) He is thin and yellow.

4. Why is Ivan Ilych able to find a new home that will please both him and his wife?
(a) His wife realizes Ivan has to find a house for the family quickly.
(b) They have the same taste.
(c) His wife does what Ivan tells her to do.
(d) His wife will live anywhere so long as her family is with her.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How long after Ivan Ilych sees the doctor does Chapter 5 begin?

2. What does Ivan Ilych admit to himself for the first time after seeing himself in the mirror?

3. How does Ivan Ilych's view his life?

4. How old is Ivan Ilych's son?

5. What two things that Ivan Ilych hears down the hall makes him react as he does?

Short Essay Questions

1. When could Ivan have changed his idea of the "good life" in Chapter 4?

2. Why do you think Ivan has more difficulty avoiding the thought of his death at work?

3. Describe how Ivan's condition is affecting him in Chapter 7.

4. Initially, how did Ivan react to this self-revelation in Chapter 5?

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

6. Identify the crisis for Ivan in Chapter 5.

7. What does Ivan's self-revelation turn into?

8. How does the doctor's professional air parallel Ivan's attitude at work?

9. What does Ivan stop doing in Chapter 11?

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

(see the answer keys)

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