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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 does Mrs. Stavrogin ask her son when he arrives?

2. How are the youth of the town behaving at the time of the fête?

3. How does Mrs. Lembke participate in Peter's plans?

4. What are the terms under which Stepan departs Mrs. Stavrogin's house?

5. What did Nicholas think of Mary Lebyatkin after he got to know her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What has Shatov's state of mind been like since the confrontation, during which he struck Stavrogin?

2. What business does Peter conduct with Kirilov in the raining cold of the night?

3. How do we find out whether Peter intentionally circulated rumors about Dasha to instigate his father?

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

5. How do people explain the gathering of workers from the Spigulin factory?

6. What story does Stepan, in his fever, think is representative of contemporary Russia?

7. What does Mrs. Stavrogin suggest as a result of her sense that she is getting older?

8. What is Peter's relationship with Stavrogin?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What images or symbols repeat throughout The Possessed? How are images built into symbols, and what symbolic resonance do images acquire? Choose three images, and describe the symbolic associations the obtain throughout the book.

Essay Topic 2

Is the duel between Gaganov and Stavrogin a metaphor for the book? Is the murder of Captain and Mary Lebyatkin a better metaphor? What event in the book is most representative of the book as a whole?

Essay Topic 3

What is the genre of The Possessed? Is it a realistic novel of Russian life, or is it something else? A philosophical melodrama? A political thriller? An allegory of radicalism?

(see the answer keys)

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