View a FREE sample

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) Tell a different story every time.
(b) Fall silent.
(c) Answer questions about his town but not about his family.
(d) Go into great detail about his hometown.

2. What was the title of Beta's first book?
(a) The Stone and Sky.
(b) The Stony Ground.
(c) The Stony World.
(d) The Shining Sun.

3. After two years, Delta returned again to favor, and how did his future look?
(a) He could not be assured that it will last.
(b) He was given a ten-year contract.
(c) He was returned only for the translation of a Shakespeare poem.
(d) He could be assured that it will last.

4. In communist thought, where is there no division?
(a) Between what man does and what he thinks.
(b) Between man and society.
(c) Between worker and peasant.
(d) Between man and woman.

5. As Beta scornfully realized, how could someone have power in Poland?
(a) Follow the procedures established by the Polish government.
(b) Overcome the Nazis.
(c) Seize it by force.
(d) Destroy all Polish underground resistance.

6. In Milosz's understanding, the class of the bourgeois is comprised of what people?
(a) Small merchants and craftsmen.
(b) Workers.
(c) Workers and peasants.
(d) National companies.

7. Why did Delta begin to write violently anti-Semitic poems?
(a) He cared more about his audience than about the content.
(b) The Communist Party commanded him to write them.
(c) He cared deeply about the political change going on around him.
(d) He had begun to think along those lines.

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

9. In Chapter 8, Milosz explains that the totalitarian states places such emotional strain on its citizens that what occurs?
(a) They will cease to think for themselves.
(b) The strain itself determines their actions.
(c) The people cannot be responsible for their actions.
(d) They cannot survive long as individuals.

10. In light of Beta's poetry, how does Milosz treat the modern artist's potential?
(a) He follows the artistic traditions of former eras.
(b) He can never know rest or inactivity.
(c) He works best without established equilibrium.
(d) He is condemned to inactivity.

11. Why is Christianity the state's primary enemy?
(a) It fosters skepticism.
(b) It encourages radicalism.
(c) It fosters subservience.
(d) It creates class divisions.

12. In the concentration camp, what kind of life does Beta lead?
(a) Healthy and well-dressed, but cannot escape his guilt.
(b) With experiences which he never talks about afterward.
(c) Healthy and well-dressed, and brags about it.
(d) Hungry and miserable, but happy to be alive.

13. While living in exile, how did Delta feel?
(a) A poor writer.
(b) Popular and well-liked.
(c) A drunkard.
(d) Lonely and forgotten.

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

15. During Gamma's youth, Poland gradually separated along what lines?
(a) Pro-Semitic and anti-Semitic.
(b) The nationalistic right and socialist left.
(c) The traditional right and Soviet left.
(d) The capitalists and communists.

Short Answer Questions

1. As detailed in Chapter 6, what was the first maxim of the communist rule as it established power in a newly-conquered country?

2. When he spent time in Moscow, what kinds of reports did Delta send back?

3. What did Delta, in his enthusiasm, love?

4. What was the result of this group created by Gamma and his friends?

5. Rather than condemning the four men about whom he writes, how does Milosz open Chapter 8?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 666 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample