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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 happens when Platon makes a shirt for a French officer and presents it to him?

2. How long did the French and Russians not engage in battle after Borodino?

3. What happens to Petya when he goes with Dolokhov to attack the French?

4. Boris is at a ball dancing with Helene at Vilna. Who arrives to speak with the tsar?

5. How does Kutuzov react when he hears that the French have left Moscow?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Pierre comfort Natasha after she tries to kill herself and how does she regard his words?

2. How does Princess Mary react to Nicholas when he enters Andrew's home at Bogucharovo and how does he react to her?

3. What has happened to Pierre to change Natasha's view about him?

4. How does Sonya react to Natasha when she finds Anatole's letter to her?

5. When the French are marching with the prisoners, what does Pierre notice of himself when marching and when resting?

6. How does Tolstoy view the war and its causes?

7. What happens with Pierre after the reading of the Tsar's letter asking for money, serfs and equipment?

8. Why is Kutuzov at odds with his generals while they are waiting for the French to leave Moscow?

9. In what state is Andrew when Natasha finds him traveling with her family out of Moscow, and what is his reaction to seeing her?

10. What does Tolstoy say changes in the nature of war when the French move from Smolensk to Moscow?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tolstoy frequently repeats descriptions of people and of their appearance and mannerisms. What is the effect of this on the reader? Is it important and if so why? Please use examples.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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.

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