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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 "Quiet," what was concerning to the narrator about the tables in the camp dining room?

2. What did the sectarian need his extra portion of food to do? ("Quiet.")

3. In "Prosthetic Appliances," what would a guard mark a cell with if the cell was not to receive hot food?

4. What did Garkunov have under his dirty undershirt?

5. In "Shock Therapy," what was described as Merzlakov's former profession?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did the narrator in "A Pushover Job" and his companion do to full-fill their quota of pine needles?

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

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

4. What prosthetics were collected by the guards in "Prosthetic Appliances"?

5. Why did the narrator state that love was the hardest emotion to return to convicts? ("Sententious.")

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

7. Why was the Siberian dwarf cedar called a "weatherman" by the narrator?

8. What did the narrator say about death in "Sententious"?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The harshness of work in the camps was described through the severe actions that convicts would go to to avoid it. Describe three examples where convicts sacrificed themselves, in one way or another, to avoid work in the camps.

Essay Topic 2

The narrator in "My First Tooth" stated that "even if you can't get something published, it's easier to bear a thing if you write it down. Once you've done that, you can forget." Do you agree with the narrator's statement? Why?/Why not? What is healing about writing something down? How may it help?

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.

(see the answer keys)

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