View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Besides blades, what does Rodion's penknife have?

2. What is the weather like the day that Cincinnatus receives the letter?

3. Where does the lawyer take Cincinnatus during their meeting?

4. Which way does Rodion sharpen a pencil?

5. What crime does Pierre say he was accused of?

Short Essay Questions

1. After telling his "joke," what does Pierre say about how Cincinnatus looks?

2. How does Emmie say goodbye to Cincinnatus?

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

4. Describe the librarian.

5. What causes Cincinnatus to finally be caught?

6. What is the new prisoner doing when Cincinnatus walks past his cell after meeting Emmie in the hallway?

7. What does Emmie do with the water jug in Cincinnatus' cell?

8. At the end of his first day in prison, what does Cincinnatus think about?

9. Why does Pierre turn into a circus performer?

10. Describe Cincinnatus's early days with his wife.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the importance of the librarian in the novel.

1) What does the librarian's job say about him?

2) How does the librarian react to the other characters and the culture that surrounds him? How does he react to Pierre and the prison director?

3) Why does Cincinnatus try to communicate and make a connection with the librarian near the end of the novel? What does the librarian's reaction say about him? What is the librarian's reaction at the beheading, and what does this indicate?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Cincinnatus's own role in his imprisonment.

1) How does Cincinnatus's crime make him impossible to imprison? Why does Cincinnatus remain in the prison, hoping for help of escape from Emmie or Pierre?

2) What implications does Cincinnatus's escape from his execution at the end of the novel have about Cincinnatus's imprisonment? If he were able to simply walk away from the executioner's ax, couldn't he simply walk away from his cell?

3) What aspects of Cincinnatus's own personality and character imprison him, literally and metaphorically?

Essay Topic 3

Constructed reality is an important element in the novel, where "reality" is very flexible and tenuous. Discuss constructed reality in the novel.

1) How does society in the novel create its own reality? How is the culture that Cincinnatus lives in inherently unreal, and merely an agreed upon way of living created by the people of the society?

2) How does Cincinnatus create his own reality? How much control does Cincinnatus have over reality?

3) How "real" is constructed reality? How much power does it have over Cincinnatus and other characters? Is there a "truer" reality below the surface as Cincinnatus seems to feel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 794 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample