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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 does Nastassya use to retrieve the money?

2. Who does the General suggest that Prince Myshkin stay with?

3. What do Ganja and his family argue about?

4. What does Myshkin threaten to do, after Ganja calls him an idiot?

5. How long is Myshkin away from St. Petersburg?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ganja come to blows with Myshkin, and how does Myshkin respond?

2. What stories does Myshkin tell Rogozhin about religion?

3. What does Myshkin say that he does not care about, before he proposes to Nastassya?

4. Why is Ganja marrying Nastassya?

5. What does Ferdyshchenko do with his ill-gotten gains?

6. What does Nastassya say initially to Myshkin's proposal?

7. How does Madam Yephanchin react to Myshkin going off to collect his inheritance?

8. How did Rogozhin become estranged from his father?

9. What does Rogozhin and Lebedev's relationship seem to be like during their conversation on the train?

10. How does Aglaya react to Ganja's letter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the expectations that characters put on others in the novel.

1) What do the members of society expect Myshkin to be like? How do they treat Myshkin when he does not meet their expectations?

2) What do the characters expect of their friends and family members in the novel? What do Aglyana's parents expect of her, and how do their expectations shape her behavior? What does Nastassya's guardian expect from her, and how do his expectations shape her behavior?

3) What does Myshkin expect from others in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Myshkin is known for his forgiveness of others throughout the novel. Discuss forgiveness in the novel.

1) Why does Myshkin continue to forgive others for wrongs, including Rogozhin's murder of Nastassya? Are there other characters in the novel that forgive each other for wrongdoings?

2) How does the knowledge of assured forgiveness affect the characters' behavior? Does it make Lebedev more likely to be complicit in the scandalous article against Myshkin? Does forgiveness have a negative affect on characters?

3) When do the characters not forgive each other? How does the lack of forgiveness affect the characters' lives?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the values of St. Petersburg society that are revealed in the novel.

1) What are the professed values of the characters in the novel? How do they express their professed values?

2) What values are revealed by the characters' actions? How are the values the characters live by different from the values they profess?

3) How are Myshkin's value and style of living different from the values of St. Petersburg society? How does Myshkin reveal the values of St. Petersburg society, by comparison?

(see the answer keys)

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