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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. Nicholas is patrolling the picket lines. What is a picket?

2. Andrew goes to Speranski's for dinner What does he think of him and his company?

3. What is Maria Dmitrievna's reputation in Russian social circles?

4. General Kutuzov does not want his troops to present themselves to the Austrian general in their great coats. Why?

5. Nicholas encounters the Princes Bagration and Dolgorukov. What is their conversation?

Short Essay Questions

1. What strange aspect do readers see in Dolokhov in the chapters following the duel?

2. Why does Nicholas feel troubled on seeing the Tsar with Napoleon?

3. Why does the old Prince insist that Andrew delay his marriage for a year?

4. How has Prince Andrew changed by being involved in the war instead of St. Petersburg society? Why did this change occur?

5. What makes Nicholas decide to go home on leave just after Natasha's engagement?

6. Dolokhov was last seen at Austerlitz talking back to a superior officer. What has happened since that time?

7. Why is Pierre so unconcerned for his future?

8. What does Nicholas do that gets him in trouble with his superior officers?

9. What does Andrew think about after he is wounded?

10. What happens with Andrew at the war council and what leads up to it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Andrew's first visit with the Rostovs. What is the thing that symbolizes him and what happens to him during the visit and how does it relate to him? Describe the alteration from the beginning of the trip to the end and how the analogy with the object illustrates this.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Tolstoy's use of minor characters as foils. How is their presence important? List some. What do they illuminate in the more important characters? How do we know they are foils? Are they catalysts in the change or do they merely act to illustrate the change? To write this essay, choose one of the three main characters and those involved mostly with that character and discuss this.

Essay Topic 3

In some dramatizations, the story of Nicholas, Sonya and Mary is greatly diminished or eliminated. Is their story important to the whole and if so why?

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