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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 "The Snake Charmer," how long did Platonov say that he had been in Jankhar?

2. What did Potashnikov receive for dinner at the end of "Carpenters"?

3. According to Merzlakov, who were the first to die in the camps?

4. What prints did the men in "Dry Rations" follow to get to the spring?

5. In "A Piece of Meat," who "offered" a "bloody sacrifice"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the extra food give the sectarian the energy to do in "Quiet"?

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

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

4. Why did Platonov decide to tell the thieves a story? ("The Snake Charmer.")

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

6. In "The Bathhouse," why was lice a relative concept to most convicts?

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

8. Why did the convicts that had been in the camps take their bread back to their barracks? ("Major Pugachov's Last Battle")

9. How did the story "Sententious" end?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Objects from the civilian world held great value for the men of Kolyma. Discuss three objects from the civilized world, what was done to keep the object in the possession of the owner, why the owner lost the possession, and how the owner felt about their possession.

Essay Topic 2

The author learned many different things during his time spent in Kolyma. Choose two different lessons that the author learned and discuss why these were important. What was the lesson? How was the lesson learned? How did this affect the life of the author after the experience?

Essay Topic 3

Many of the convicts in the text found truth in the saying "Desperate times bring about desperate measures." Discuss three different examples within the text that proved this statement to be true.

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