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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. Where is Ginzburg taken?

2. How old is Elvov when he visits Ginzburg?

3. What does the lack enable?

4. Why does Pitkovskaya condemn her husband?

5. What news does Ginzburg get one day in a singing message?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is mentioned about the Red Tatary and why does Ginzburg threaten one prisoner in French?

2. What does Ira ask Tsarevsky to do as she and others are being transferred and what does his willingness to do so portend?

3. What does one prisoner do and others follow that breaks up the horror of their situation momentarily?

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

5. What happens after Ginzburg is given a summation of her indictments?

6. Who summons Ginzburg after Elvov's arrest; what do they want with her, and how does she respond?

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

8. Describe the interrogation of Ginzburg by Livanov.

9. Who is Garey Sagidullin and what does Ginzburg learn from him?

10. Who are some of Ginzburg's cellmates at Krasin Street Prison?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Stalin's regime, in conjunction with the frailties of the Communist system, seek to stamp out even perceived opposition to their control. They fear a popular uprising, similar to the uprising they led years before against Czar Nicholas. And in order to maintain power, and continue to instill fear in their people, they continue to apply weight to the people. Apathetic and disinterested Communists are libeled for not denouncing their lesser fellow citizens.

1. Discuss why totalitarian governments are prone to worry about opposition. Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

2. Discuss the ways in which a government can maintain power by the use of fear. Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

3. Explain how requiring citizens to denounce other citizens created the actual situation that Stalin feared. Use examples from Journey Into the Whirlwind and your own life to support your response.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. What is a plot? What are the most important elements of a plot and their definition? Do all memoirs have a plot? Why or why not?

2. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of Journey Into the Whirlwind, identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot?

3. Identify the major sub-plots and their elements in Journey Into the Whirlwind. (The subplots may not contain every element of a major plot). Do the sub-plots add to the main plot? Why or why not. Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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