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

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

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

4. What bothers Pahom the most about the stripping of bark from his trees?
(a) He hates the idea of a stranger being on his land.
(b) Whoever did it also let his cows out of their pen.
(c) He hates the idea of trees being wasted in this way.
(d) Whoever did it cut down a whole clump of trees.

5. Who is the first person that the local landowner offers to sell her land to?
(a) The innkeeper.
(b) Simon.
(c) Pahom.
(d) The leader of the commune.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Pahom's wife say may happen to a man in town?

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

4. How many acres does the local landowner have?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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