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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 keep in a large case?

2. What does Cincinnatus say when he learns his mother has come to see him?

3. What does Cincinnatus complain about that causes Pierre to call him rude?

4. What does Pierre lecture Cincinnatus on, in the evening after Emmie tells Cincinnatus she is planning his escape?

5. What does Cecilia C. tell Cincinnatus about his father?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Pierre do after the party starts breaking up, before heading back to the prison?

2. What reason does Pierre give Cincinnatus for pretending to be a prisoner?

3. What does Pierre do, when the party moves outside at the meeting between Cincinnatus, Pierre, and the city officials?

4. What inconsistency in Cecilia C.'s clothes does Cincinnatus point out?

5. How does Cincinnatus react when Pierre, the director, and the lawyer announce that it is time for his execution?

6. What announcements does the deputy city director make before the execution?

7. How does Cincinnatus respond to Pierre's speech?

8. What does Pierre realize that he has forgotten in his speech?

9. How does Rodion act toward Cincinnatus?

10. How does Pierre act during his chess game with Cincinnatus?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cincinnatus longs to make a true human connection with his wife. Discuss the role of human connection and its opposite, isolation, in the novel.

1) What inherent conditions of being human contribute to isolating human beings from each other? How do these forces affect Cincinnatus and the novel?

2) How does society and culture work to isolate human beings in the novel and prevent human connections?

3) Are the other characters in the novel truly empty, without a real human being below the surface, as Cincinnatus sometimes declares?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Rodrig and Rodion are the two main representatives of the prison staff in the novel, and throughout the novel, they transform into each other. Discuss the significance of Rodion and Rodrig in the novel.

1) Why are Rodrig and Rodion associated with each other? What do they have in common?

2) What are Rodrig and Rodion's differences? How superficial are these differences?

3) How do Rodrig and Rodion view Cincinnatus? What does Cincinnatus think of the two prison employees? What do they represent in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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