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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When someone asked about his family and origins, how would Delta answer?
(a) Answer questions about his town but not about his family.
(b) Fall silent.
(c) Tell a different story every time.
(d) Go into great detail about his hometown.

2. As Chapter 8 briefly explains, how does the State regard the propertied class?
(a) Most important.
(b) Least hopeful for reform.
(c) Least likely to rebel.
(d) Least important.

3. While talking to Beker, who is about to be burned at the crematorium because he is too weak to work, what is Beta's attitude?
(a) Agitated and sad.
(b) Calm and detached.
(c) Fearful of his own life.
(d) Malicious.

4. As he got older, how did Gamma feel about his life?
(a) He had wasted his youth in service of the party.
(b) He had not devoted enough energy to the party.
(c) He had wasted his youth on reckless living.
(d) He had become too comfortable with his accomplishments.

5. What did Delta, in his enthusiasm, love?
(a) The whirlpool of human emotions.
(b) The words of intellectuals.
(c) Crowds and festivals.
(d) The literary cafes.

6. In Chapter 5, how is Beta characterized?
(a) Shy and arrogant.
(b) Shy and aloof.
(c) Impossible to understand.
(d) Outspoken and arrogant.

7. As the NKVD began mass deportation, how did Gamma write communist propaganda?
(a) Because, by doing it he could save his family.
(b) In support of the deportations.
(c) To keep from being deported himself.
(d) Even as his family was deported to Siberia.

8. When Delta's writing no longer pleased the party, what happened?
(a) He was exiled to Siberia for three years in a labor camp.
(b) Publishers were instructed to print only the work that showed he had reformed.
(c) Publishers were instructed not to print his work.
(d) He was forced to print only in underground papers.

9. Apart from his poetry, what was Delta's personality?
(a) Sly and fearful.
(b) Sly and gloomy.
(c) Optimistic and cheerful.
(d) Completely deceitful.

10. When he spent time in Moscow, what kinds of reports did Delta send back?
(a) Ones that said exactly what the party wanted to hear.
(b) Ones that spoke haltingly of Russian progress.
(c) Ones that glowed with enthusiasm.
(d) Ones that portrayed the city as gloomy.

11. How can the relationship between Gamma and the author be described?
(a) A love affair.
(b) A deep friendship.
(c) A game.
(d) An acquaintanceship.

12. Chapter 6 opens with a picture of Vilna, which is a city of __________ .
(a) Forests.
(b) Gardens.
(c) Streams.
(d) Beaches.

13. As detailed in Chapter 6, what was the first maxim of the communist rule as it established power in a newly-conquered country?
(a) Crush opposition at all cost.
(b) Make the people happy so they agree.
(c) Impose educational reforms.
(d) Set minimal demands.

14. Beta described the concentration camp as he saw it; how should he have described it?
(a) As it really was.
(b) As the Nazis intended.
(c) As the liberating American saw it.
(d) As the Soviets wanted him to see it.

15. Why are peasants not particularly dangerous, according to Milosz?
(a) They have no education and thus cannot retaliate.
(b) They are more easily involved in extensive underground work.
(c) They are happy with their lives.
(d) The state is the only buyer of what they grow.

Short Answer Questions

1. Beta remained bitter because he was unable to see what?

2. Beta wrote poems characterized by what?

3. Why is Christianity the state's primary enemy?

4. The last time Milosz saw Beta, how did the unassuming poet look?

5. Because he believed in earthly salvation, what did Beta argue?

(see the answer keys)

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