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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. If someone refuses to participate in Zaroff's hunting game, what does he do?
(a) Gives them to his servant to be whipped to death.
(b) Makes them fight his servant to the death.
(c) Sets them adrift at sea.
(d) Shoots them immediately.

2. How does Rainsford finally succeed in getting away from Zaroff?
(a) He hides in the swamp.
(b) He jumps from a cliff into the ocean.
(c) He hides in a cave.
(d) He fools Zaroff into thinking he has drowned in the river.

3. What does Zaroff do if one of his victims is close to winning the game?
(a) He uses dogs to hunt them.
(b) He cheats by going back to the house for better weapons.
(c) He tricks them into thinking they have won and then kills them anyway.
(d) He just extends the time period that they have to survive through.

4. What is in General Zaroff's cellar?
(a) A torture chamber.
(b) The bodies of the men he has killed.
(c) His "training camp."
(d) The dogs' kennels.

5. On page 35, Zaroff says that Rainsford's attitude is "like finding a snuffbox in a limousine." What rhetorical technique is he employing?
(a) Sarcasm.
(b) Alliteration.
(c) Simile.
(d) Understatement.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the significance of the two trees, where one is leaning on the other?

2. On page 38, Zaroff calls something that Rainsford says "barbarous." What does this word mean in this context?

3. What spot on the island does Zaroff warn Rainsford to stay away from?

4. On page 55, a tree is leaning "precariously" on another tree. How is the tree leaning?

5. After Zaroff leaves, when Rainsford is lying in the tree and thinking over what has just happened, what emotion does Rainsford feel?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rainsford finally escape Zaroff, and why is Zaroff foolish to assume that Rainsford is dead?

2. Explain at least two ways in which the story's title can be understood.

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

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

5. 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)?

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

7. During Rainsford's attempt to escape Zaroff, there are many references to animals. How are they used and what is their significance?

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

9. How does Zaroff characterize Rainsford's views on hunting human beings?

10. 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)

(see the answer keys)

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