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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many acres does Pahom buy in his first land purchase?
(a) 300.
(b) 1,300.
(c) 13,000.
(d) 40.

2. When Pahom feels "aggrieved," what is he feeling?
(a) So angry he cannot think clearly.
(b) Greedy.
(c) As if someone has harmed him.
(d) Sad for something he has lost.

3. The story opens with two sisters. What does the older sister's husband do for a living?
(a) He is an innkeeper.
(b) He is a farmer.
(c) He is a commune leader.
(d) He is a tradesman.

4. Who calls Pahom's land a "narrow hole"?
(a) The stranger who stays overnight at Pahom's house.
(b) Pahom's sister-in-law.
(c) Pahom.
(d) Pahom's wife.

5. What agreement does Pahom come to with the landowner?
(a) He will pay less for the land because he can pay for it all in advance.
(b) He will pay for the land over the next ten years, one-tenth at a time.
(c) He will pay for half of the land up front and half within two years.
(d) He will work for her until the land is paid for.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What is Pahom's reaction to the trouble with the steward?

3. In which situation might someone "grease your palm"?

4. Where is Pahom when his wife and her sister are talking?

5. How do Pahom's neighbors retaliate when he takes them to court?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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