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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. What word does Rainsford repeat three times and Zaroff call "unpleasant" (35)?

2. On page 59, Rainsford's waiting is described with the phrase "He lived a year in a minute." What literary technique is being used here?

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

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

5. If someone refuses to participate in Zaroff's hunting game, what does he do?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. How does Zaroff obtain his victims?

8. What does Zaroff say about the "strong" and the "weak" (35)?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you analyze how Rainsford's attitude toward game animals changes over the course of the story. Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the story's ending in which you consider this question: Is Rainsford a hypocrite? Think about Rainsford's statements about hunting versus murder and animals versus humans. Are his beliefs consistent or do they seem to be designed to allow him to do something that he suspects might be wrong? How does this question relate to the ending of the story and his choice to seek out and kill Zaroff instead of finding and using Zaroff's boat? Be sure to use textual evidence to support your claims.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that analyzes how General Zaroff came to be the man he is when Rainsford meets him; explain multiple aspects of his personality, using textual evidence to justify speculations about how he came to be the way he is.

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