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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. Why had the lawyers in "The Lawyers' Plot" been taken to the House of Vaskov?

2. How much oatmeal did the convicts receive in their portions? ("Land-Lease")

3. What position was Skoroseev given in "Esperanto."?

4. What was told, at the end of "The Lawyers' Plot", had happened to Rebrov?

5. In "My First Tooth," what was written in coal on the walls of the basement?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where did the narrator hide his money during his train ride? ("The Train.")

2. What did Shestakov offer the narrator as nourishment to aid in an upcoming escape attempt? ("Condensed Milk.")

3. In "A Child's Drawing," why did the convicts stand in groups of five when guards were dividing out work assignments?

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

5. What was the narrator shocked by about the blade of the bulldozer? ("Land-Lease.")

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.)

Essay Topic 2

As detailed by the text, men were moved constantly and consistently in and out of different work houses. This change set up for many of the men to find themselves separated from human companionship. In what ways did the text show the breakdown of relationships based upon the experiences in Kolyma?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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