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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. To what prison does the prosecutor send Yakov while Yakov is awaiting trials?

2. While Yakov is being interrogated, two men arrive at the interrogation room and are invited inside. Who are these men?

3. What does Raisl always beg Yakov to do?

4. What does the guard who is comforted by Yakov's scripture readings refuse to give to Yakov?

5. When the author describes the wind rushing through Yakov's cell, what does he liken the wind to?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Yakov's visitor miserable living in the shtetl?

2. According to Zhenia's mother, why does she delay in reporting her son as missing?

3. Why does the prisoner sent to talk to Yakov eventually end up apologizing to Yakov?

4. After being returned to his cell following the farce of an indictment, Yakov loses it. Describe his behavior.

5. According to the boatman who ferries Yakov across the river, how could all of Russia's problems be solved?

6. Looking back on his marriage to Raisl, why does Yakov now believe that it was a mistake to marry Raisl?

7. When Yakov shares his story regarding why he is being held in prison, why do his cellmates beat him?

8. According to Yakov's attorney, why must the government find a way to prove Yakov's guilt?

9. When Yakov reads the propaganda circulating against the Jews, why does he grow uneasy?

10. Describe the later years of Yakov and Raisl's marriage.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the course of the novel, Yakov has to deal with two very different authority figures. Compare and contrast the relationship Yakov has with Bibikov and the relationship Yakov has with the prosecutor. Then, compare and contrast the two men. How do these two relationships influence not only Yakov, but also the events that surround the crime and its investigation?

Essay Topic 2

Several people that Yakov has been in contact with provide damaging information against him to the police during the investigation of Zhenia's murder. Compare and contrast the following characters in terms of their personalities, their "testimony", and their motivations: Proshko, Zina, and Nikolai.

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the warden with the deputy warden.

a. How are the two characters similar in terms of their professional lives? How are they different?

b. How are the two characters similar in their personality characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses? How are they different?

c. Only one of these characters survives the story. Is the deputy warden's death a result of his own doing or a result of dumb luck? Is the warden's survival a result of his own doing or a result of dumb luck? Support your reasoning for both.

d. Looking forward, how might Yakov's incarceration and subsequent trial have affected each of these men as they moved forward with their lives? Would they be similarly affected or not? Explain your answers and your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

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