Climax is a literary term that refers to the turning point in a story during which the most important part of the action occurs. Identify the climax in A Month in the Country and discuss why you chose this point.

Research Alexander II' s reform policies in education, the judiciary, the military, and government. Discuss how you agree and disagree with his intentions. What was he trying to accomplish? Was he successful in your opinion?

Research the Hohenzollern dynasty in Prussia and discuss the parallels between it and Nicholas I's rule of Russia during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Research Philosophical Idealism, or slavophilism, movement of Russia's 1830s. Who were its major proponents and detractors? Given your vantage point in the twentieth century, discuss why you think the Philosophical Idealists' vision would or would not work in today's society.

Discuss...