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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. How does Ivan Ilych react to his worsening pain?

2. What did the sight of Ivan Ilych seem to convey to Peter Ivanovich?

3. Is Ivan Ilych in denial about his condition?

4. What does Ivan Ilych hear down the hall?

5. To what event did Peter Ivanovich go to on Friday?

Short Essay Questions

1. Examine the author's other main theme of this story.

2. Explain how reactions to Ivan's death by Gerasim and Ivan's son differ from the reactions of all the other characters in Chapter 1.

3. In Chapter 11, what does Ivan reveal about himself when he was younger, and what happened to it?

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

5. Discuss an example of foreshadowing in Chapter 7.

6. How does Gerasim view death?

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

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

9. Describe the relationship between Ivan and his wife.

10. At the moment Ivan admits to himself that he is dying, how does he feel toward his family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is there a reason Tolstoy does not give a name to Ivan's disease? How does the unnamed disease relate to the central themes? Why would Tolstoy not name the disease that kills Ivan?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Ivan and Gerasim. What is the relationship and/or purpose of these two characters, specifically, in this novel?

Essay Topic 3

How does Ivan's family deal with his suffering and death? Do they learn anything from this experience? If so, what?

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