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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 the nickname of Nicholas II at the time the narrator is in school?

2. What does Charlotte realize she accidentally did?

3. For what do the narrator and his sister stand in line?

4. What is one thing the narrator and his sister can visualize as their grandmother is telling a story?

5. How does one soldier get his leg full of splinters?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Albertine surprise Charlotte one day and what is left behind?

2. What happens after Fyodor is arrested?

3. What does the narrator spend a lot of time doing and what is one photograph that seems out of place?

4. What story captures the narrator's imagination concerning Tsar Nicholas II?

5. How does missing a train save Charlotte and her children's lives?

6. About what do others continue to speculate?

7. How does Sergei find another way for the family to flee and what does Charlotte realize as they do so?

8. Why does the narrator become outraged?

9. What is the narrator allowed to do when he is 14?

10. What is the story does the narrator relate about Charlotte's rock collection?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The relationship between the narrator and his grandmother has changed completely, due in part to the narrator's age since he is now entering his teenage years. He doesn't feel like he can connect to Charlotte's fairy tale stories about France any more because he knows the gritty truth about French history thanks to his studies. When Charlotte attempts to create the magical world of Atlantis for the narrator, he finds himself drifting off, not listening to the stories, imagining another world, further away from his grandmother than he's ever felt before. Charlotte recognizes the change, too, and soon their conversations about the past disappear.

1. Discuss why you think the narrator's change in age changed his relationship with his grandmother. Use examples from "Dreams of My Russian Summers" to support your answer.

2. How do you think the separation between the narrator and his grandmother affected her emotionally? Use examples from "Dreams of My Russian Summers" to support your answer.

3. Do you think knowing the truth about a country will always cause a person to not want to listen to possible fantasy stories about that countries? Why or why not? Use examples from "Dreams of My Russian Summers" to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. Who is/are the protagonists of the story and why?

2. Who is/are the antagonists of the story and why?

3. Which 3 secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot?

4. Are any of the characters dispensable and which ones? Why or why not?

5. Do you think this is a character-driven plot or an action-driven plot? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

"Dreams of My Russian Summers" belongs to the fictional memoir genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the fictional memoir genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between a fictional memoir and a historical novel?

(see the answer keys)

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