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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. As detailed in Chapter 6, what was the first maxim of the communist rule as it established power in a newly-conquered country?

2. The state methods of teaching give the illusion of what?

3. What was the title of Delta's most unusual poem, which spoke in terms best understood in a dream?

4. What was the title of Beta's first book?

5. What did Delta, in his enthusiasm, love?

Short Essay Questions

1. Rather than blaming these four men for the choices they made, Milosz says they were slaves to history. How is this true?

2. Nearly six years of Nazi rule had radically changed people's ideas of private property. Did this help or harm the communist idea of common property?

3. Milosz calls Beta's reaction to the concentration camp life sadistic. How is this true?

4. How was Delta's poetry some of the most insightful work being written at the time?

5. Milosz states that the goals of the workers are far different from those of the state. How is this so?

6. Milosz writes that Delta could not (or would not) distinguish between truth and fable, even in his personal life. Is this the kind of mind the Party would have wanted?

7. Eventually Delta's poems became something of a dream, unreal. How was this inevitable?

8. How were Beta's stories a fitting insight into his nihilist worldview?

9. How are the peasants, in several ways, the most helpless class of people?

10. Delta, in wandering the roads in France, met people from many different nations. How did this universal migration prepare the way even more for communist rule?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Prompted by Lieutenant Zbyszek's sign in the wilderness of bombed Warsaw, Alpha and Milosz reflect on the man who wrote it. What is Milosz's response, emotionally and mentally, to the sign? Using other examples from the book (e.g., the Jewish girl shot in the street or Delta's life), explain what Milosz presents about the permanence of an individual life.

Essay Topic 2

The West, in not taking advantage of every artist, wastes a huge amount of talent. Is the East's method better or worse? Is there an ideal system in which exceptional artists are appreciated without conforming to a particular method?

Essay Topic 3

Though many human interactions are characterized by some degree of acting, the citizens of Soviet countries are forced to take this to an extreme. What does this tell us about the relationship between communist ideals and the individual? What should the role of government be in an individual's life? To what degree is this a perversion of how it should be? Or is this justified in the name of communist ideals?

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