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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 does Pierre say was the main evidence against him?

2. When does Pierre say that prison escapes happen?

3. What about Pierre does Cincinnatus say might prevent him from making an effective escape?

4. How does Cincinnatus describe his wife?

5. What is Marthe holding when she meets with Cincinnaus?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Cincinnatus's walk through the prison staircase.

2. What faults and virtues does Pierre say that the director has?

3. After the director reads his formal speech to Cincinnatus, where does Cincinnatus go?

4. How does Cincinnatus respond to Pierre's story of why he is in prison?

5. How does Cincinnatus describe his difference from other people?

6. What does Cincinnatus at first mistake for a window?

7. What reason does Cincinnatus give for needing to know the schedule for his execution?

8. Describe the librarian.

9. What relatives does Marthe bring with her the first time she visits Cincinnatus in prison?

10. What does Cincinnatus do, when the director briefly leaves the meeting between Cincinnatus and Pierre?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cincinnatus is unable to hide his difference because of his emotional reaction to Marthe's disloyalty, and during his imprisonment, one of his main concerns is seeing Marthe again. Discuss Marthe's role in the novel.

1) Why does Cincinnatus love Marthe? Why does he believe that he can make a human connection with her? Is Marthe in any way what Cincinnatus wants her to be?

2) Why does Marthe bring her whole family to her first meeting with Cincinnatus during his imprisonment? Why does she visit him a second time? What does her behavior at these visits say about Marthe's personality and character?

3) How does Marthe perceive Cincinnatus's crime and imprisonment?

Essay Topic 2

Cincinnatus is oppressed for being different from other people. Discuss oppression in the novel.

1) Are other people besides Cincinnatus in the novel oppressed? Are their differences from each other and from the society's accepted culture suppressed?

2) How is Cincinnatus different from the other people in his culture? In what ways is Cincinnatus oppressed, beyond his imprisonment?

3) Are Cincinnatus and the other characters complicit in their own oppression? In what ways could the characters fight against or break free of oppression?

Essay Topic 3

Cincinnatus's mother Cecelia C. is one of the few people to visit him in prison. Discuss Cecelia C.'s role in the novel.

1) What is Cincinnatus's attitude toward his mother?

2) Why does Cecelia C. come to see him in prison? What does her attitude toward Cincinnatus seem to be? Why did she abandon her son, and why does she come to see him again?

3) How is Cecelia C.'s visit different from the other visits Cincinnatus receives in prison? How is he similar to his mother? How are they different? What affect does the visit have on Cincinnatus?

(see the answer keys)

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