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. What does Cincinnatus think is happening when he wakes up the third day?

2. How does Pierre characterize Cincinnatus's desire to know the date of his execution?

3. What reason does Cincinnatus write that he is too dangerous as his own accomplice?

4. What is Cincinnatus's first job?

5. How does the judge deliver Cincinnatus' sentence?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Pierre's circus performance.

2. What does Cincinnatus realize as he heads back to his cell with Rodion?

3. What ring does Cincinnatus describe wearing in his memory from his childhood?

4. What does Cincinnatus hope to get out of seeing Marthe?

5. Why does Pierre turn into a circus performer?

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

7. What does Cincinnatus describe happening to the world in his dreams?

8. What does Cincinnatus hear in the prison hallway?

9. Describe the librarian.

10. What memory of his wife does Cincinnatus recall in his writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Many things in the novel are superficial or fake. Discuss the role of superficiality and falseness in the novel.

1) How is superficiality a part of the culture of the novel?

2) What items in Cincinnatus' surroundings such as in his prison and his cell are fake? What do these fake items signify? How does Cincinnatus perceive them?

3) How are the people surrounding Cincinnatus fake? Why does he perceive them as unreal? What would make a person real to Cincinnatus?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 819 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample