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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. Where is Pahom when his wife and her sister are talking?

2. What is Pahom's first reaction when he learns that people are moving to a new settlement?

3. What is Pahom's reaction to the trouble with the steward?

4. What does the expression "racked his brains" mean?

5. How many acres does the local landowner have?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter I, what is ironic about the conversation between the two sisters?

2. What sequence of events with Simon follows Pahom's discovery of the stripped trees?

3. When the devil overhears Pahom's thoughts, what does he vow to do?

4. What changes the relationship between the woman who owns land near the village and the peasants, and how does the relationship change?

5. How does Pahom's relationship with his community change, and what are two specific pieces of evidence for this change?

6. What prevents the peasants from buying the nearby landowner's land as a group instead of as individuals?

7. In Chapter I, what is ironic about where Pahom is while he listens to his wife and her sister talk?

8. Pahom is most angry at the neighbor who has cut down his trees because whoever it was did not just take one or two trees but instead cut down a whole clump of trees. Why does this make Pahom angry, and what is ironic about his anger?

9. What sacrifices do Pahom and his family make for the first plot of land that they buy?

10. In what two ways is Pahom's first decision to buy land different from his later decisions?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain what the devil's plan is and how he carries it out. Be sure that you discuss his motives, for the plan as a whole and for its details as well.

Essay Topic 2

At the beginning of Chapter III, Tolstoy tells the reader that "Pahom was well contented, and everything would have been right if the neighboring peasants would only not have trespassed on his corn-fields and meadows." What evidence argues that this is not true? Why would Tolstoy have had his narrator say this if it is unlikely to be true? How does this affect the reader's understanding of the narrator's tone, and why does it matter?

Essay Topic 3

What do you think of the relationship between the two sisters? Does it seem healthy? What might be the cause of the older sister trying to make her younger sister feel bad about her life? How does this tie into the theme of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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