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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 is Mr. Lembke's professional background?

2. What does Stavrogin tell Peter he is planning to do?

3. How many paces separate the two duelists?

4. How does Nicholas Stavrogin react to his demotion?

5. What last-minute effort does Stavrogin make to avert the duel?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Nicholas Stavrogin's status in Russian society.

2. How does Peter feel about Shigalyov's plan?

3. What does Peter ask his father after he (Peter) has recounted the story of Stavrogin and Miss Lebyatkin?

4. What effect do Julia Lembke's political activities have on Mr. Lembke?

5. What stories are in circulation about Dasha's past?

6. What is Mrs. Stavrogin's response to Stepan Verkhovensky's letter to Peter about Dasha?

7. How would you characterize the opposition between Stepan and Peter?

8. What does Stavrogin tell Dasha after the duel?

9. How does Shatov respond to Lisa Tushin's proposal?

10. How are Liputin, Shatov and Virginsky described when we meet them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Peter Verkhovensky spends much of the book agitating for an uprising, but the violence results in the deaths of many of the main characters and the arrest of many of Peter's co-conspirators. Is the action of the book a success insofar as it stirred up trouble in the society of the town? Or is it a failure insofar as it did not accomplish a complete reinvention of Russian society?

Essay Topic 2

What is Dostoevsky's perspective on the action in The Possessed? Is he narrating in all seriousness, or is he ironically or satirically detached from his characters?

Essay Topic 3

Following the allegory of the swine from Luke, are the demons cast out of the society of the novel? Are they cast out of Russian society by Dostoevsky's novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 858 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample