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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. How many carpenters were allowed to be retained in "Magic"?

2. What was being yelled as Peter Zayats was thrown out of the shelter and into the snow? ("My First Tooth.")

3. According to the narrator in "My First Tooth," why is writing something down the best thing to do?

4. What did the man who asked the narrator for help, in carrying his baskets to the scales, have in his baskets? ("The Train.")

5. What, in "Chief of Political Control," was summoning the hospital director?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What about the Senior Supervisor-Ministry of Internal Affairs' name impressed the narrator in "The Lawyer's Plot"?

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

4. What happened at the end of "Esperanto" to the narrator"?

5. Why did the narrator in "My First Tooth" state that it was easier to bear something after you write it down? ("My First Tooth.")

6. How did the narrator describe Romanov in "The Lawyer's Plot"?

7. What did the bulldozer, in "Land-Lease," come to be used for?

8. Why was the narrator afraid to get off of the train at any station other than the Moscow station? ("The Train.")

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

10. Why did Gusev break the window in the basement of the former monastery? ("My First Tooth.")

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Based upon the text, what three things do you think that the forced-laborers in Kolyma needed to survive? Find three different needs and explain why they were necessary for survival in Kolyma.

Essay Topic 3

The ability to stay warm, for many, was the single line between life and death. Discuss at least three different examples that showed what men in Kolyma would do to get warm.

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