View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Major Kovalyov go to the newspaper office?

2. From what language does Ivan Ivanovich translate books for booksellers?

3. What is the weather like when the ship sets sail in "The Three Hermits"?

4. Where does the Bishop go when he finds he doesn't feel like sleeping?

5. What does a friend of Ivan Ivanovich's say he thirsts to feel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Pyotr Petrovich say about hunting in the rain?

2. Describe the character of the wife of Laputin, the benefactor in "The Clothesmender".

3. After discouragement from the newspaper and the district police inspector, how does Major Kovalyov feel when he gets home?

4. How does Major Kovalyov try to obscure his missing nose when he goes into the coffee house and when he leaves?

5. How does Praskovya Osipovna react when Ivan Yakovlevich finds a nose in his loaf of bread?

6. What happens when the stationmaster arrives in Petersburg?

7. How does the fisherman end up on the island with the three hermits?

8. What does the doctor say about Major Kovalyov's missing nose?

9. What are the two trials the tailor experiences that lead him to his eventual good fortune in "The Clothesmender"?

10. What does Ivan Ivanovich think of the administrative news he hears the dead people talking about?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why doesn't the narrator kill Dolgushov in "The Death of Dolgushov"? What does he do instead? What condition is Dolgushov in? Why does he seek death?

Essay Topic 2

How does Tolstoy characterize each of the three hermits in "The Three Hermits"? How do these descriptions obscure the true nature of the power that the hermits have? How is this ironic in light of the Bishop's visit to the island?

Essay Topic 3

What is the function of the blue phial in "The Cave"? How does this add to the sense of foreboding in the story? What agreement does Masha hint at about the phial?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 777 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample