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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. Which of the following statements best describes Solzhenitsyn's attitude toward being in prison?

2. What color were the battalions many POWs joined in exchange for food?

3. What was the name of the prison where Solzhenitsyn was sent after his arrest?

4. How long was the standard Stalin imprisonment in Gulag?

5. What did Lenin call the purge through which he got rid of all those he wished to suppress?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did families typically react when they saw a family member arrested?

2. In what ways did interrogators try to intimidate prisoners in the early 1920s?

3. What reason does Solzhenitsyn give for the mass arrests that were sweeping through Russia during the time of Gulag's height?

4. Why couldn't interrogators be trusted to uphold the law?

5. What happened in the Gulag prison camps in 1945-1946?

6. What was the hygienic purge?

7. While imprisoned, what did Solzhenitsyn feel about his Motherland?

8. How did Chulpenyev react to the charges brought against him in Mongolia in 1941?

9. What was the Section 11 paperwork that Solzhenitsyn signed during his interrogation?

10. How did the prisoners of Gulag know that WWII had ended in Russia?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the memoir, Solzhenitsyn compares the real evil of the world (such as the evil of Gulag) to the evil forces presented in literature. First, describe Solzhenitsyn's personal definition of what evil is and where it is hiding in the world. Next, compare/contrast that definition to at least one of the literary greats Solzhenitsyn discusses in the book.

Essay Topic 2

When people were sent to a Gulag labor camp, it was particularly difficult for their families. Explain how families tried to cope when one of their members was sent away. Give at least two ways prisoners attempted to stay in contact with their families even during their imprisonment.

Essay Topic 3

The years 1937-1938 were considered the "Great Terror" years in Russia. Describe how life changed for the prisoners in the work camps during this era. Explain how Stalin used these two years to promote his own political agenda. What effect did this time have on Stalin's popularity within Russia?

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