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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Stavrogin want Fedka to do?

2. Who shows up to talk with Shatov after Shatov's wife returns?

3. How many people are in Peter Verkhovensky's secret group of radicals?

4. What does Virginsky say to the radicals after Shatov's wife gives birth?

5. What does Dostoevsky seem to believe is the problem with Russia?

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 the role of literature in The Possessed? What kinds of literature are there, and what do characters expect from writers and from novels and from tracts? What effect do writers and literature have on society?

Essay Topic 3

Is there a consistent morality in The Possessed? Do violent people always pay a price for their acts of violence? Are criminals and scoundrels always caught and punished, or made to suffer somehow? Is innocent suffering redeemed?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 316 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample