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. Citizens of communist countries become adept in what skill, according to Milosz?

2. The Ketman of revolutionary purity holds that a tyrant's reign may be justified in what circumstances?

3. According to Milosz, nations which have recently come under communist rule feel excitement at first, and then feel what emotion?

4. Chapter 2 notes that though it is good to be free from something, how does freedom become better?

5. Why did Alpha eventually become a communist?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the Eastern communist often call the West stupid?

2. What significance is there in the fact that Murti-Bing comes in pill form?

3. Is Ketman necessary to the citizen of the New Faith? Why?

4. Why is cosmopolitanism linked to nationalist concerns? What does the center gain by connecting these?

5. From several references to Tito throughout Chapters 2 and 3, what can the reader infer about him? What does the center gain by making an example of him?

6. "If something exists in one place, it will exist everywhere" (pg. 29). Why does the man in destroyed Warsaw believe this, and how does it affect his spirit?

7. As the new way comes into power, it cannot eradicate the old way all at once. Why not?

8. The East uses talented artists to their full ability, yet sometimes with mediocre results. Why does this happen?

9. If an artist disagrees with the dialectical method, he debates the question with a panel of Party authorities and always, undoubtedly loses. Why is this so?

10. How does Ketman create pride in the man who practices it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Milosz asserts that the way to rule a nation's mind is through the word. Is this true or are there other factors equally important? Given what he says about both Nazi and communist controls over the printed word, how was this played out in Poland?

Essay Topic 2

Given the examples only of these four men, what is your impression of communism? Is it possible to get a good idea of both communist ideals and its reality by reading about their lives? Use examples from their chapters to illustrate your thoughts.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the book, the converts to communism decry the evils of capitalism, even going so far as to say capitalism led directly to Hitlerism (pg. 128, Beta's assertion). Is this necessarily true? If communism leads, as history has proven, to a dictatorship, then where does capitalism lead?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,161 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample