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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. Who is Petrishchev, the man Luzhin winds up talking to at the ball?

2. What excuse does Mrs. Luzhin leave in a message for Valentinov to explain that Luzhin will not visit him?

3. What is Luzhin like when his fiancee sits with him at the sanatorium?

4. Where is the first place Mrs. Luzhin suggests they travel?

5. Where does Luzhin disappear to at the ball?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Luzhin's fiancee feel about their new apartment as she furnishes it?

2. What does Luzhin's psychiatrist say about the possibility of him marrying?

3. How does Luzhin react to the parties of intellectuals that his wife entertains?

4. What memory of his father does Luzhin recall when he stops to buy fruit?

5. What does Luzhin realize when he overhears his wife talking to her visitor?

6. What is Luzhin doing when Ivan knocks over the lamp?

7. What are Mrs. Luzhin's political opinions about the Soviet Union?

8. How does Luzhin act in the days before his wedding?

9. How does Luzhin feel at his wedding reception?

10. At the ball, how does Mrs. Luzhin compare the movie actresses to her husband in her mind?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss conscious and unconscious awareness in the novel.

1) Is Luzhin conscious of what he wants, needs, and feels? How does he relate to his own feelings? What goes on below the surface in his mind?

2) How conscious is Luzhin's wife of her own motivations, needs, and feelings? How does she explain her motivations to herself?

3) How conscious are Luzhin's in-laws, parents, and psychiatrist of their own motivations and what drives them? How is Luzhin's father aware of his drives and needs?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss fulfillment in the novel.

1) What motivates characters to pursue the activities they pursue? What motivates Luzhin? What motivates his wife?

2) Where do characters in the novel find fulfillment? Are any of the characters successful in feeling fulfilled?

3) What prevents fulfillment? How do characters perceive others' desires for or quests for fulfillment? How do characters conflict over what makes them fill fulfilled?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the structure of the novel.

1) What divides the novel into sections or parts? What roles do these parts play over the course of the novel?

2) How does Luzhin develop over the course of the novel? How does he change?

3) Why does the novel begin in Luzhin's boyhood?

(see the answer keys)

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