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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. Natasha receives a letter. What does it say and who is it from?

2. What news does Pierre hear from Rostopchin and his adjutant when he arrives back in Moscow after Borodino?

3. Who stumbles out of the woods to join the Fifth Company before the battle of Krasnoe?

4. Why does Boris speed up his courting of Julie Karagina?

5. Why is Petya forbidden by his general to take part in Denisov's action when he sends Petya with a dispatch for him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Kutuzov at odds with his generals while they are waiting for the French to leave Moscow?

2. How does Princess Mary react to Nicholas when he enters Andrew's home at Bogucharovo and how does he react to her?

3. Where does Pierre go after Borodino and how has he reacted to the battle?

4. Why does Nicholas feel he cannot marry Mary?

5. While Moscow is being abandoned, what is everyone in St. Petersburg saying about Helene?

6. What has happened to Pierre to change Natasha's view about him?

7. In what state is Andrew when Natasha finds him traveling with her family out of Moscow, and what is his reaction to seeing her?

8. How does Pierre and Andrew's meeting before the battle of Borodino go?

9. What is Tolstoy's view of Count Rostopchin's actions in Moscow immediately preceding the arrival of the French?

10. Why do the French end up abandoning a city that was their emperor's goal in invading Russia?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore Prince Andrew's mental and emotional changes in the story. What brings about each change? How is each change important to the action following it? How does his experience at Austerlizt affect his homecoming and later meeting with Pierre? How do you think his changes affect those around him? Consider other important changes to his character in your essay.

Essay Topic 2

Are Tolstoy's characters "black" and "white"? Choose two of the "worst" and two of the "best" and use them to argue whether he looks at them in such a way. For example, how does he describe Helene, Anatole, Dolokhov, Mary, Sonya, or Pierre? Despite their actions, does he see them as acting with malice aforethought, or are their actions motivated by good intentions? You may choose other characters in addition to or instead of the above.

Essay Topic 3

In some dramatizations, the story of Nicholas, Sonya and Mary is greatly diminished or eliminated. Is their story important to the whole and if so why?

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