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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 Ginzburg consider as she is traveling back to Moscow?

2. Who is Lyama Shepel?

3. What are the sounds in the middle of the night?

4. What does Ginzburg want to prove?

5. What does the lack enable?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Eugenia Semyonovna Ginzburg and why is she awakened early in the morning on December 1, 1934?

2. Why does Ginzburg think things have been straightened out and what happens to throw her back into the midst of the purge?

3. Who are Ginzburg's new cell mates?

4. What is the "Conveyor Belt" interrogation method and how is it used on Ginzburg?

5. Where is Ginzburg being transferred and what is significant about the watch returned to her?

6. Who is Secretary Abdullin and what does he ask of Ginzburg?

7. Describe Captain Vevers' behavior to Ginzburg.

8. What does a friendly soldier tell Ginzburg on her way back to Butyrki after her trial?

9. Where is Ginzburg taken and what does she remember after seeing the place?

10. What happens on February 7, 1937, and why is one of Ginzburg's former students in particular agony about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The train ride is especially telling of the life that the women are about to be plunged into. It also reveals a host of ideas and differences among the women with respect to Communism, Stalin, and themselves. A few fanatical women believe Stalin is innocent of the evil of his subordinates; others have come to hate the entire system. But just as their political differences threaten to pull them apart, they decide to band together and look out for each other as best they can.

1. Discuss the reasons some women might still hold to the idea that Stalin himself was not personally responsible for what was going on. Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

2. What do you think can happen to a system of government if a majority of its citizens begin to hate the system? Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

3. How do you think the women were able to set aside political differences to help each other and what does that imply for other groups of people in the world? Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

Essay Topic 2

Grandmother warns Ginzburg that a trap is being set for her, and that she should go as far away as she possibly can. But Ginzburg wants to prove her innocence, and her husband dismisses the idea of leaving. Ginzburg recounts that some intelligent people did indeed escape Communist oppression by slipping away to distant places. But Ginzburg admits she was not one of them.

1. Why do you think Ginzburg felt so strongly about proving her innocence? Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

2. Discuss how you think someone like Ginzburg might feel about her decision to not leave by the end of her ordeal. Do you think she may have regretted not leaving? Why or why not? Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

3. Discuss what it might imply about a person to know that a trap by an oppressive government might be set for her and still not take steps to avoid the trap. Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

Essay Topic 3

People are an important part of what makes Journey Into the Whirlwind interesting. Discuss the following:

1. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Eugenia Ginzburg. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

2. Thoroughly discuss and analyze Stalin. What are his strengths? His weaknesses? How does he contribute to the plot? Is he a sympathetic character? Is he ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

3. Thoroughly discuss and analyze the character of Julia. What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she ever likable? Never likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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