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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 goes first in the game?

2. How long is Myshkin away from St. Petersburg?

3. When the Yephachin women ask what Myshkin thinks of them, who does he avoid commenting on?

4. How does the General describe the Prince to his wife?

5. How much money is Myshkin about to inherit?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Myshkin feel when he gets off the train arriving in St. Petersburg?

2. How does Madam Yephanchin react to Myshkin going off to collect his inheritance?

3. What does Rogozhin describe as having happened between him and Nastassya before she left him?

4. How does the footman treat Prince Myshkin when he first arrives at the Yephanchins' house?

5. What does Myshkin say that he does not care about, before he proposes to Nastassya?

6. How does Nastassya react to Rogozhin's offer of a present?

7. What does Ferdyshchenko describe doing to make sure someone else is blamed for his own theft?

8. What wrongs does Ganja accuse Myshkin of during this section?

9. How does Ganja come to blows with Myshkin, and how does Myshkin respond?

10. How does Myshkin describe Aglaya?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the role that society's criticism and approval plays in the characters' lives in the novel.

1) What types of actions are criticized and approved of by society in the novel? How does the society as a whole make its criticism or approval felt to the characters?

2) How do characters respond to societal pressure or societal disapproval? How does it influence characters' actions? How do the characters respond to society's expectations and approval? Do characters actively try to gain societal approval?

3) How is Myshkin perceived by society? When and how is he criticized or approved? How does societal criticism or approval affect Myshkin?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the role of family in the characters' lives.

1) How do the characters' families and social positions affect their lives? How do family relationships affect how the characters are accepted by society?

2) How does it affect Nastassya that her parents are killed when she is young? How do the characters' upbringings affect their personalities and attitudes?

3) How do the characters' families try to influence the characters' lives and decisions? What forces do families use to influence family members' behavior.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss death in the novel.

1) Discuss Hippolite's attempted suicide and impending death from disease. How does Hippolite perceive death? How does he deal with impending death?

2) Discuss General Ivolgin's death from stroke. What does death mean to the General and those around him? What perspective does his first stroke and eventual death put on his disagreement with Lebedev?

3) Discuss Nastassya's death. What leads up to her death? What does her death mean to Rogozhin and to Myshkin? What does death mean to Nastassya?

(see the answer keys)

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