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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 tell Cincinnatus to do in the moments before the execution?

2. What happens to the scratching noises when Cincinnatus makes noise?

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

4. What does Cincinnatus refuse to do after Pierre's speech about why he pretended to be a prisoner?

5. What does CIncinnatus do in response to the scratching noises?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Emmie's mother describe as Emmie's last prank before going back to school?

3. Describe the plot of Quercus.

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

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

6. What is on the list of acceptable last requests that Pierre reads?

7. Describe what happens to Cincinnatus's cell when the tunnel is completed.

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

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

10. How does Marthe get permission to come and see Cincinnatus?

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

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 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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