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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 kind of bird did the narrator say was unafraid of people and could be shot easily? ("Sententious.")

2. What did Merzlakov steal when he "miraculously managed" to get a stable-hand job at the camps?

3. What mountain spring did the narrator and his three companions reach at the beginning of "Dry Rations"?

4. What did the narrator claim was "a relative concept"? ("In the Bathhouse")

5. What did the narrator say that he refused to listen to? ("Sententious.")

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why did Merzlakov fake a back injury in "Shock Therapy"?

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

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

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

6. What happened to Grigoriev and Potashnikov after the foreman found out that they were not carpenters?

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

8. How did the story "Sententious" end?

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

10. Why were camp officials perplexed by the convicts avoidance of the bathhouse?

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

In "Prosthetic Appliances," the narrator described the dehumanizing actions that guards put laborers through. Men were required to give up even their most intimate needs. Discuss how some men in Kolyma refused to give up what meant the most to them and what happened because of this refusal.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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