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

2. What does the stranger staying at Pahom's house overnight tell Pahom?
(a) The Bashkir are selling land very cheaply.
(b) Life in the countryside is difficult but secure.
(c) Life in town is very risky.
(d) That people in the new settlement beyond the Volga are making good money.

3. Which character says that "Loss and gain are brothers twain"?
(a) Pahom's sister-in-law.
(b) The local landowner.
(c) Pahom's wife.
(d) Pahom.

4. How many acres does the local landowner have?
(a) 300.
(b) 1,300.
(c) 40.
(d) 13,000.

5. What is a steward?
(a) A shop owner.
(b) Someone who rents the land that they farm or graze animals on.
(c) An innkeeper.
(d) Someone who takes care of someone else's property.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which character thinks "I'll give you land enough; and by means of that land I will get you into my power"?

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

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

4. What is Pahom's first reaction when he learns that people are moving to a new settlement?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

5. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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