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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 was the only way that prisoners could stand by the stove in "Quiet"?

2. What appeared on a tree stump at the end of "Sententious"?

3. Why did Kurchen write his letter with his left hand instead of his right?

4. What was the last thing that Golubev said in "A Piece of Meat"?

5. In "Carpenters," for how long had the fog been so thick that a man was not able to be seen from "two paces away"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How did the story "Sententious" end?

4. What did Savelev do after finding Ivanovich hung himself?

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

6. What "piece of meat" did Golubev offer up in sacrifice? ("A Piece of Meat.")

7. Why did Garkunov die at the end of "On Tick"?

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

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

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

Given the dehumanizing circumstances that the narrator relayed throughout the text, many instances of true humanity shone through. Discuss three examples where humanity won out over animalistic behavior in the text.

Essay Topic 2

The theme of survival was important in the text. Discuss the different aspects of survival as depicted throughout the text. What were the different aspects of survival? What did it mean to survive? Why were there different understandings of this term?

Essay Topic 3

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.)

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