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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 is different about the women in Hut 7?

2. What do the women become proficient at during the day?

3. What do Ginzburg and Julia see in the courtyard where they are walking?

4. Why are Julia and Ginzburg put outside for an hour and a half?

5. To what does Ginzburg attribute her inability to distinguish one day from the next in the following year?

Short Essay Questions

1. What gives the prisoners a moment of happiness and how do they share their goods?

2. What small joy do Ginzburg and the other prisoners enjoy when the Black Maria is late?

3. Who teaches the new prisoners how to fake their lumber quota?

4. What does Ginzburg learn about her father and how does this seem to cause unwarranted punishment?

5. How does Ginzburg compare Kostik to Keyzin?

6. What range of sentences are the women whom Ginzburg meets given, and why does Ginzburg consider herself lucky?

7. Who is Marya Dogadkina and how is she described?

8. What is Julia determined to do and what does she save for the day?

9. What does Dr. Pickwick insist upon in treating Julia and Ginzburg?

10. When is Ginzburg freed and what does she persist in believing in despite her life in prison?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Oftentimes, a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and oftentimes the other way. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not.

5. What type of plot do you think Journey Into the Whirlwind is? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 2

Many readers of fiction place themselves in the position of one character, wondering if they would do the same thing as that character. Discuss the following:

1. Do you think one of the values of literature is to serve as a reflection of oneself? Why or why not?

2. Socrates said "Know thyself." How can reading a book such as Journey Into the Whirlwind help a reader to know him/herself? Do you find yourself reflecting on your own character and abilities when reading Journey Into the Whirlwind? Why or why not?

3. Choose one specific incident in Journey Into the Whirlwind to discuss and compare one of the characters' response to how you think you would respond.

Essay Topic 3

1. Research and give a brief biographical sketch of Eugenia Ginzburg.

2. What in Ginzburg's background may have helped her in writing Journey Into the Whirlwind? What may have influenced the way she depicts various people and scenes?

3. Do you think all of the events in a memoir are true? Why or why not? Give examples.

4. How is a memoir affected by memory? Is every memory a person has strictly accurate? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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