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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 are two of Ivan Ilych's symptoms?

2. What is the conflict in Chapter 5?

3. Who is Ivan Ilych's wife?

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

5. What does Ivan Ilych see in the eyes of his brother-in-law?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the mood in Chapter 6.

2. Describe how Ivan and others' initial response to his illness are classic examples of the denial stage of dying.

3. What is the major conflict in "The Death of Ivan Ilych?" What is a minor conflict in "The Death of Ivan Ilych?"

4. Why do Ivan's memories of the past make him feel the way they do?

5. What does Ivan discover about his method of coping in Chapter 6?

6. Discuss an example of foreshadowing in Chapter 7.

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

8. Discuss the irony in Ivan resenting his dying from something so trivial as falling off the step ladder.

9. What does Ivan stop doing in Chapter 11?

10. Describe Gerasim.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is 19th century Russia presented in "The Death of Ivan Ilych?" Be certain to support your claims by using text from the novel as well as independent sources that describe 19th century Russia.

Essay Topic 2

What is the discontinuity between how character's act and what they feel throughout the novel? Why is how they act different than how they feel?

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the major themes ("We die as we live" or "What constitutes a good life?") and explain what is meant by that theme. How does Tolstoy convey this theme throughout the novel?

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