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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What wakes the commune in the middle of the night in April?

2. What does Maryna find waiting for her when she checks in to her hotel?

3. Who becomes Maryna's manager?

4. What has plagued the fields of the commune?

5. What is Ryszard's responsibility on the commune?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the end of Chapter Eight, Maryna and Bogdan have a conversation about their relationship. What has each come to recognize about his and herself and about each other? Does this seem genuine on both of their parts?

2. How does Booth treat Maryna in his monologue? Why does she suffer his verbal abuses?

3. After their brief affair, Maryna breaks off her relationship with Ryszard and sends him away. Why does Maryna end the relationship? How do each of them react to the rejection?

4. How does Maryna meet Miss Collingridge? When do they meet a second time? What happens after this second meeting?

5. During his monologue, Edwin tells Marina why he suffers. What explanations does he give for his suffering? Would he rather not suffer?

6. In his love letter to Maryna in which he asks her to travel with him, Ryzard refers to Jack Goodyear, a squatter Ryszard has met in the mountains. Jack Goodyear explains to Ryszard that "sometimes it seems to him as though there were two Jacks." What does Goodyear mean by this?

7. Maryna admired Edwin Booth from the time of her childhood. After her performance with him, she joins him in his apartment. What does she learn about Booth in this chapter?

8. Edwin Booth talks about his father and his brother, John Booth. What does he reveal about these two important figures in his life?

9. What does Maryna choose to use as her audition material for Mr. Barton? How does the audition go? How does the author describe Marya's return to the stage? What do we learn about Maryna?

10. What does Edwin Booth have in his possession named Philo Perkins? What is the story behind Philo Perkins?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Edwin Booth's monologue finishes the novel. He has not been a character in the book, nor does he know any of the characters in the novel except Maryna. Why has the author chosen to end the book on this note? Is there a climax to the novel, and if so, where did it take place?

Essay Topic 2

As Maryna returns to the theatre, she begins to once again reinvent herself for this life in America. How does she do this? How calculated are her lies and fabrications? What has she learned about Americans and their heroes?

Essay Topic 3

Why has the author chosen to tell about the demise of the commune through Bogdan's journal? How does he give an adequate account of what happened?

(see the answer keys)

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