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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. In "In The Night," what were Glebov and Bagretsov looking for?

2. What did the narrator claim was a "special joy for a convict"? ("Dry Rations")

3. During what months would the dwarf cedar tree rise up from the ground?

4. What did Fedya call Platonov in "The Snake Charmer"?

5. In "Major Pugachov's Last Battle," what did Major Pugachov tell a party boss he was preparing for?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Sententious," who did the narrator say that he envied?

2. What was the "circle" that was created regarding the relationship between work and food in "Shock Therapy"?

3. How did Platonov, in "The Snake Charmer," die?

4. Who did Gloubev recognize in the hospital as he was recovering from his appendectomy? ("A Piece of Meat.")

5. What question did the new arrivals ask of the old convicts in "Major Pugachov's Last Battle"?

6. What hypothesis was tested in the story "Quiet"?

7. What materials were needed to make the playing cards that the men in "On Tick" used?

8. In the story "In The Night," how did Bagretsov cut his finger?

9. What decision did the men in "Dry Rations" make regarding their food?

10. What plans did Bagretsov have for the underwear that he took off of the corpse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the impact that the text had on you. Did you feel as though the text was a stretch of the truth? Did you feel as though the information given by the author was truthful and realistic? Support your focus with textual evidence.

Essay Topic 2

Magic seemed to be the only way that some men made it out of the camps of Kolyma alive. Discuss three examples throughout the text where "magic" seemed to be responsible for survival. (Think of how "magic" was depicted in the story "Magic" to help answer this question.)

Essay Topic 3

Based off of the text as a whole, describe the kind of life that a man in the Kloyma forced-labor camps lived. What did their days consist of? What were their fears? What was expected of them? How were they treated?

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This section contains 760 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample