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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's wife behave toward his illness?

2. Why is it ironic that Ivan resents that his death is trivial?

3. Why does Ivan Ilych take his family there?

4. What year is it in the novel?

5. What are the symptoms that Ivan Ilych has?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Ivan's appearance in Chapter 5.

2. What explanation does Ivan come up with to explain why his past memories make him feel the way they do?

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

4. Describe Gerasim.

5. Why does Ivan fall into a profound depression?

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

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

8. How does Ivan and his wife's idea of the "good life" extend into Chapter 4?

9. How does making choices based on convention affect Ivan?

10. Why does Ivan experience only temporary relief when his family leaves in Chapter 8?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the use of irony in "The Death of Ivan Ilych." How is irony used in novel? Does Tolstoy use one kind of irony more than another?

Essay Topic 3

Why does Tolstoy choose to use the flashback technique in Chapter 1 when he begins the novel with the funeral? How does Tolstoy's use of this technique help to get the themes across?

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