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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 does the church elder like to drink?

2. What kind of student is Ivan?

3. Where does the devil hide when men come to visit Solokha?

4. What did God allow Ivan to decide?

5. What kind of animal is Pulkheria's favorite pet?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Valuka gain possession of the devil's shoes?

2. Why does Aunt Vasilisa want Ivan to marry Grigory's younger sister?

3. Why do the devil and the witch want to cause problems between Valuka and Choub?

4. How does Ivan's aunt surprise when he visits her at the farm?

5. Why does Ivan have to retire from the regiment?

6. Why does Khoma have to say an eulogy for the cossack's daughter?

7. How does Ivan appear to Petro at the end of the story?

8. How does Ivas save Pyotr from a beating?

9. Summarize the Night Before Christmas story.

10. How does Pytor cope with his role in the murder of Ivas?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare one of the stories characters to the person he was at the beginning of the story to how he is at the end.

1. What did that character hope to achieve at the beginning of the story?

2. What events changes the characters ideas about life?

3. How has that character changed by the end of the story?

Essay Topic 2

The Collected Tales are translated from Russian into English. How much meaning can a book loses through a translation? What aspects of the book do you think would be the most difficult to express in English? How do you think a translator can overcome these difficulties?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the author's writing style. How would you describe the author's prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? What meaning does the author's style give to the story?

(see the answer keys)

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