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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 Stepan Verkhovensky's employment?

2. Who is Mrs. Lembke hosting in her salon?

3. How does Stavrogin respond to Kirilov's belief?

4. What does Peter ask his father in front of the group?

5. Where did Nicholas meet Captain Lebyatkin?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Stepan Verkhovensky react to having his house raided?

2. What objections are raised to murdering Shatov, and who raises them?

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

4. Where does Stepan go after he leaves Mrs. Stavrogin's house?

5. What is the purpose of the gathering at Mr. Virginsky's house?

6. What kind of uprising is Peter planning?

7. What is Kirilov's view of life, and how does Peter respond to it?

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

9. Why does Lisa Tushin approach Shatov?

10. What is Julia Lembke's relationship with the youth of her town?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the role of the crowd in The Possessed? How do the gathered factory workers or the guests at the fête behave like one character with a unified will or behavior of their own? How does Dostoevsky describe the crowds? What power do they have? What weaknesses?

Essay Topic 2

What is the moral of The Possessed? Is conversion to Christianity a real solution to the problems the book presents? Is there a difference between the social problems the book presents us with and the problems of individual morality that the characters face?

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?

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This section contains 823 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample