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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 was Nicholas' first impression of Mary Lebyatkin?

2. Who else arrives in Chapter 5 and takes part in Mrs. Stavrogin's conversation?

3. Whom does Nicholas visit in Part II, Chapter 2?

4. What warning does Stavrogin give to Shatov at the end of their conversation?

5. Whom does Mrs. Lembke befriend?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Gaganov's relationship with Stavrogin?

2. What does Peter tell us about Nicholas Stavrogin's relationship with Miss Lebyatkin?

3. What leads up to Nicholas' confession that he is married to Mary?

4. What does Peter tell us about why Nicholas Stavrogin treated Miss Lebyatkin the way he did?

5. What do Lisa Tushin and Kaptain Lebyatkin have in common?

6. What do Erkel and Peter tell Shatov when they meet with him?

7. What does Karmazinov think about Russia?

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

9. What is Shigalyov's new plan of social organization?

10. Who dies as a result of Shatov's murder? Who is arrested?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does innocence play in The Possessed? Is it always sacrificed, as Mary Lebyatkin and Shatov are? Does it endure anywhere, in spite of Mary and Shatov's murders?

Essay Topic 2

How is authority portrayed in The Possessed? What kinds of authority are there, and what are the limits of their power? Are any new roles with new authorities brought into being through the action of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Peter Verkhovensky exploits the blindness, weakness and gullibility of many characters as he works his wiles. Does the action of the book change any of those characters so that they are immune from Peter's machinations? Asked another way--is The Possessed a moral book that teaches a lesson, or a cynical book that teaches that there are no lessons, only different actors with different motivations?

(see the answer keys)

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