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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. Ivan Ilych's chief concern is to what?

2. What profession is Ivan Ilych?

3. Why does Ivan Ilych try to replace thoughts of death?

4. What did Praskovya Fedorovna tell Peter Ivanovich about the main character?

5. Why are his wife and daughter anxious when Ivan Ilych arrives home?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Discuss an example of foreshadowing in Chapter 7.

3. Describe how Ivan is torn in Chapter 9 and what affect this has on him?

4. How does Ivan make his pain worse?

5. How is Ivan characterized in Chapter 3?

6. What does Ivan stop doing in Chapter 11?

7. Ivan's realization about himself in Chapter 11prompts him to discover something about himself. What does he discover and how does it affect him?

8. Describe Gerasim.

9. How is Ivan's sense of power juxtaposed in Chapter 2?

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

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

Describe the form that foreshadowing takes in "The Death of Ivan Ilych." How is the foreshadowing accomplished? Is the foreshadowing subtle or obvious?

(see the answer keys)

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