View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the older sister brag about?
(a) Her comfortable life.
(b) Her loyal husband.
(c) Her clever children.
(d) Her housekeeping skill.

2. Whom does Pahom accuse of stripping his trees?
(a) Simon.
(b) His brother-in-law.
(c) The head of the commune.
(d) The innkeeper.

3. How does Pahom's wife defend their life to her sister?
(a) She says that their life is steady and safe.
(b) She says that living in the countryside is more moral.
(c) She says that their life is quiet and ordinary.
(d) She says that someday Pahom will make them rich.

4. What does Pahom do when the court rules against him?
(a) He strips someone else's trees in revenge.
(b) He quits the commune in protest.
(c) He accuses the judges of taking bribes.
(d) He tries to appeal the case.

5. What does the expression "racked his brains" mean?
(a) Felt very sad.
(b) Stared into space without thinking.
(c) Organized his thoughts.
(d) Searched hard for an answer.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the first person that the local landowner offers to sell her land to?

2. Who calls Pahom's land a "narrow hole"?

3. What does the stranger staying at Pahom's house overnight tell Pahom?

4. What reaction do the peasants have when they hear rumors about the sale of the land?

5. The story opens with two sisters. What does the older sister's husband do for a living?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter I, what is ironic about where Pahom is while he listens to his wife and her sister talk?

2. How does Pahom's relationship with his community change, and what are two specific pieces of evidence for this change?

3. In Chapter I, what is ironic about the conversation between the two sisters?

4. Pahom is most angry at the neighbor who has cut down his trees because whoever it was did not just take one or two trees but instead cut down a whole clump of trees. Why does this make Pahom angry, and what is ironic about his anger?

5. What sacrifices do Pahom and his family make for the first plot of land that they buy?

6. In what two ways is Pahom's first decision to buy land different from his later decisions?

7. What sequence of events with Simon follows Pahom's discovery of the stripped trees?

8. When the devil overhears Pahom's thoughts, what does he vow to do?

9. What changes the relationship between the woman who owns land near the village and the peasants, and how does the relationship change?

10. What prevents the peasants from buying the nearby landowner's land as a group instead of as individuals?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,028 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample