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

2. What problem does the new steward create for the local peasants?
(a) He refuses to sell seed to those who do not own their own land.
(b) He does not supervise his cattle properly.
(c) He fines them when their animals trespass on his employer's land.
(d) He demands payment of the peasants' outstanding loans.

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

4. When the younger sister is "piqued," what is she feeling?
(a) Angry.
(b) Tired.
(c) Curious.
(d) Cautious.

5. Where is Pahom when his wife and her sister are talking?
(a) Lying on the stove.
(b) Bringing in loads of wood.
(c) Working in the field.
(d) Resting in his cot.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What bothers Pahom the most about the stripping of bark from his trees?

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

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

5. What does the expression "racked his brains" mean?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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