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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Tolstoy say Ivan Ilych felt upon taking his position at the Court of Justice?
(a) Miserable and filled with dread.
(b) Proud and apprehensive.
(c) Anxious and depressed.
(d) Content and happy.

2. How old is Marya Alexandrovna?
(a) 14.
(b) 21.
(c) 26.
(d) 17.

3. How does Tolstoy describe Dmitri's thoughts about love?
(a) Hopeful.
(b) Cynical.
(c) Naïve.
(d) Romantic.

4. To whom does Eugene Irtenev confide his lustful thoughts about Stepanida?
(a) Liza Annenskaya.
(b) His uncle.
(c) His minister.
(d) Stepanida.

5. How does Tolstoy describe Marya and Sergey's feelings for each other?
(a) Indifferent to each other.
(b) Head over heels in love.
(c) Resentful.
(d) Respectful and moderately affectionate.

6. What does Dmitri dream about on his way to the Caucasus?
(a) A life of ease.
(b) Freedom from persecution.
(c) A heroic future.
(d) Escape from prison.

7. Who is Ivan Ilych at the beginning of "The Death of Ivan Ilych"?
(a) A doctor.
(b) A soldier.
(c) A law school graduate.
(d) A bureaucrat.

8. What causes Marya Alexandrovna's depression?
(a) Her mother's death.
(b) Her father's drunkenness.
(c) Her husband's death.
(d) Her brother's illness.

9. What convinces Ivan Ilych that death is getting close?
(a) His teeth fall out.
(b) He falls out of bed.
(c) He falls on the way to the toilet.
(d) He ceases to sleep.

10. What is the significance of the Terek River?
(a) It is the last civilized outpost before the wilderness.
(b) It is where the regional authorities are centered.
(c) It is the heart of the Cossacks' territory.
(d) It is the boundary where Dmitri enters the Caucasus.

11. When did Dmitri believe a barrier was broken between himself and Maryanka?
(a) When he sees her baking bread.
(b) When he moves in with her family.
(c) At Beletsky's party.
(d) When she tells him of her engagement to Lukashka.

12. Why does Dmitri go to the Caucasus?
(a) To serve the Tsar.
(b) To look for adventure.
(c) For a business deal.
(d) To escape from his debts.

13. How does Marya see herself in relation to Sergey, once she begins to be depressed?
(a) As an afterthought.
(b) As a goddess.
(c) As a nuisance.
(d) As a mother.

14. Who lives on the other side of the Terek River?
(a) Russians.
(b) Muslim Tartars.
(c) Turks.
(d) Grebensk Cossacks.

15. How does Ivan Ilych handle his illness?
(a) He applies for a pension and retires.
(b) He still works, but it exhausts him.
(c) He works less and less and reads and becomes philosophical.
(d) He sees doctor after doctor with no result.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who did Lukashka actual kill?

2. What does Dmitri encounter in the Caucasus?

3. What are Ivan Ilych's symptoms of the illness that kills him?

4. How does Tolstoy say Liza Annenskaya acts on her jealousy?

5. What did Ivan Ilych do in his second job?

(see the answer keys)

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