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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 were "unfortunate ones" made to think that machine grease was? ("Land-Lease.")

2. What day was it during "Chief of Political Control"?

3. What did the narrator call "precious things" in "Esperanto"?

4. On the train, in "The Train," what did the narrator state was his first happiness?

5. What were contained in the "magical jars" in the story "Land-Lease"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Stukov contemptuous and delighted by the shifty-eyed man's admittance about his being an informant? ("Magic")

2. Why was Sazonov directed to the poorer hut in "My First Tooth"?

3. Why did the narrator decide that he had not been lucky in getting called to Romanov's home? ("The Lawyer's Plot.")

4. What "magical powers" did Stukov have? ("Magic")

5. According to the narrator in "The Lawyer's Plot," what were the three ways out of the mine?

6. What was written on the cell ceiling of the monastery basement? ("My First Tooth.")

7. What did convicts receive as payment for keeping their mouths shut about guards beating them? ("The Chief of Political Control.")

8. Why did Golubev watch Stukov's "game" with pleasure? ("Magic.")

9. Why was the new chief of political control at the hospital? ("The Chief of Political Control.")

10. Why were the convicts unable to eat the horse meat in "Esperanto"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many of the guards in the stories are described by their attitudes towards the camp convicts. Describe the different ways that guards were described, how these descriptions mandated how convicts felt about the guards, and how the convicts acted around different guards based upon their dispositions.

Essay Topic 2

In "Quiet," an particular irony was set up. One of the camp administrators believed that "a man will eat and in gratitude work better for the state." In what circumstances did this statement prove to be false? In what circumstances did this statement prove to be true? What was the determining factor in the truth behind the statement?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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