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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 is Beliayev's favorite part of a newspaper?

2. Whom does Rakitin call a "stupid, fat, lumbering man"?

3. How long have Rakitin and Natalya known each other?

4. In Act 3, Part 1, whose help does Shpigelski solicit in matching Bolshintsov and Vera?

5. Who is searching for a tutor in Moscow for Kolya?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Natalya's childhood.

2. How does Rakitin depict love to Beliayev in Act 5, Part 1?

3. Why do Natalya and Rakitin resolve to "educate" Beliayev?

4. Describe what Islayev does for a living.

5. Summarize Beliayev's response to Natalya's revelation that Vera is in love with him.

6. Why does Vera decide to marry Bolshintsov?

7. Why does Natalya say to Rakitin, "It's wrong to put one's life in chains"? What does she mean?

8. Why is Islayev surprised to find Natalya and Rakitin in the hallway in Act 4, Part 3?

9. Why did Islayev never previously intervene in the relationship between Natalya and Rakitin?

10. In Act 2, Part 2, when Natalya is speaking with Rakitin, why does she move the conversation from a discussion of her behavior to a discussion of Bolshintsov?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the passageway and the type of events that occur there.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Natalya's thoughts about Beliayev in Act 1 with her thoughts about him in Act 5. How has her perception of him changed?

Essay Topic 3

Describe how Turgenev uses minor characters for comic relief in the play.

(see the answer keys)

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