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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 does Charlotte realize she accidentally did?

2. Who is described as an absolute monarch?

3. About what does the grandmother tell stories to the narrator and his sister?

4. Why does one soldier mutilate himself?

5. When is the last time Charlotte speaks to Albertine?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Albertine retreat?

2. Where does the narrator go for the summer and what is a tale she relates to the narrator on his first night there?

3. What is the narrator allowed to do when he is 14?

4. What happens when Charlotte meets up with a soldier while she is on her way to Boyarsk?

5. What does Charlotte do during the war and how does she react to her work?

6. Why does the narrator become outraged?

7. What is one of the childhood memories of Charlotte's that has left an impact on the narrator?

8. Why does the narrator break into his grandmother's Siberian Suitcase?

9. What happens after Fyodor is arrested?

10. What impresses the narrator about his maternal grandfather?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of growth in "Dreams of My Russian Summers". Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with growth? Why? What are some symbols of growth? Symbols of rigidity? What characters seem rigid?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of courage in "Dreams of My Russian Summers". Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to possess courage? Why?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of death in "Dreams of My Russian Summers". Consider not only the physical deaths but the death of innocence or the death of ignorance.

Essay Topic 2

Titles often play a vital role in making a person decide to read a particular book. Discuss the following:

1. Fully explain why you think "Dreams of My Russian Summers" is titled as such. Do you think it is the best title for the book? Why or why not? Can you think of a better title? Why would you choose it?

2. How important is a title in influencing you to consider reading a book? Explain your answer.

3. Do you think a title needs to have direct relevance to a book's content? Explain your answer.

4. Have you ever read a book that when you finished, you do not understand the relevance of the title? Does it discourage you from "trusting" that particular author again?

Essay Topic 3

The relationship between the narrator and his grandmother has changed completely, due in part to the narrator's age since he is now entering his teenage years. He doesn't feel like he can connect to Charlotte's fairy tale stories about France any more because he knows the gritty truth about French history thanks to his studies. When Charlotte attempts to create the magical world of Atlantis for the narrator, he finds himself drifting off, not listening to the stories, imagining another world, further away from his grandmother than he's ever felt before. Charlotte recognizes the change, too, and soon their conversations about the past disappear.

1. Discuss why you think the narrator's change in age changed his relationship with his grandmother. Use examples from "Dreams of My Russian Summers" to support your answer.

2. How do you think the separation between the narrator and his grandmother affected her emotionally? Use examples from "Dreams of My Russian Summers" to support your answer.

3. Do you think knowing the truth about a country will always cause a person to not want to listen to possible fantasy stories about that countries? Why or why not? Use examples from "Dreams of My Russian Summers" to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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