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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word does Rainsford repeat three times and Zaroff call "unpleasant" (35)?
(a) Weakness.
(b) Prey.
(c) Criminal.
(d) Murder.

2. When Rainsford insists on leaving the island, what is Zaroff's response?
(a) He decides to send Rainsford down to the cellar.
(b) He stalls for time by pretending to send Ivan for a boat to take Rainsford off the island.
(c) He decides that he will hunt Rainsford that evening.
(d) He pulls out his gun and tells Rainsford that he does not have a choice about staying on the island.

3. What is the result of Rainsford's pit trap?
(a) Rainsford himself falls into the trap.
(b) Zaroff's servant is killed.
(c) Zaroff is seriously wounded.
(d) One of Zaroff's dogs is killed.

4. What is Zaroff's response to being wounded by Rainsford?
(a) He laughs.
(b) He stares silently toward Rainsford's hiding place.
(c) He yells.
(d) He moans.

5. What is most clearly implied by the last line of this story?
(a) Zaroff now understands that his "game" was wrong.
(b) Rainsford kills Zaroff.
(c) Zaroff kills Rainsford.
(d) Rainsford will become just like Zaroff.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Rainsford digs his pit trap, he is said to dig like what?

2. How does Rainsford finally succeed in getting away from Zaroff?

3. When Rainsford says that he is not a murderer, the General calls him "droll" (35). What is Zaroff saying about Rainsford?

4. On page 35, Zaroff says that Rainsford's attitude is "like finding a snuffbox in a limousine." What does he mean by this?

5. When he is hiding in the tree, what does Rainsford suddenly realize?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe General Zaroff's actions when Rainsford is hiding in the tree.

2. What are the terms of General Zaroff's "game"?

3. What does General Zaroff's definition of "civilized" seem to be?

4. How does General Zaroff react to Rainsford's various traps?

5. What does Zaroff want to show Rainsford in the cellar and in the library, and what does this tell the reader about him?

6. What part of the island does Zaroff tell Rainsford to avoid, and what are at least two likely motives for his warning?

7. What allusion is contained in the sentence "I have played the fox, now I must play the cat of the fable," and what is the meaning of the allusion (50)?

8. What does Zaroff ask Rainsford to promise him he will do if he wins the "game," and what is the result?

9. What does the sentence "He was in a picture with a frame of water, and his operations, clearly, must take place within that frame" mean? (49)

10. How does Zaroff obtain his victims?

(see the answer keys)

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