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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. Which of the following items is NOT something Solzhenitsyn says prisoners were discouraged from taking to the camps with them?

2. During the new era of executions, how many men were killed in the first 16 months?

3. Which of the following bunks were considered the best bunks to have in the summer?

4. Why were the peasants in Tsarskoe Selo executed?

5. How many defendants were a part of the first show trial in Russian history?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened during the new era of executions?

2. How did prisoners figure out where they were being relocated, particularly when being sent into exile?

3. What was Vlasov put on trial for in the last of Russia's open trials?

4. What was the All-Russian Central Executive Committee?

5. How was time in Gulag measured?

6. What types of prisoners were separated from the native population at Gulag?

7. What major change did Lenin make to the law right before he suffered his first stroke?

8. What would prisoners drink while being transported?

9. What did prisoners eat when they were being transported from one prison to another?

10. Why did women sometimes go crazy when they found a scrap of paper in the transit camps?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Within the punishment cells of the Gulag camps, prisoners were forced to endure various forms of cruel and unusual punishments. Describe at least two forms of torture the prisoners in Gulag were subjected to and what offenses could lead to such punishments. Explain how members of the government rationalized those punishments to themselves and their moral sensibilities.

Essay Topic 2

When people were sent to a Gulag labor camp, it was particularly difficult for their families. Explain how families tried to cope when one of their members was sent away. Give at least two ways prisoners attempted to stay in contact with their families even during their imprisonment.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the memoir, Solzhenitsyn compares the real evil of the world (such as the evil of Gulag) to the evil forces presented in literature. First, describe Solzhenitsyn's personal definition of what evil is and where it is hiding in the world. Next, compare/contrast that definition to at least one of the literary greats Solzhenitsyn discusses in the book.

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This section contains 912 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample