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Exam Format Example

Directions: Out of the fifteen choices, choose ten and tell their (1) sources, (2) authors (if applicable), and (3) discuss the significance of the passage to the overall story, novel, or film. Be as detailed and specific as possible (include who is speaking, characters involved in the scene, etc.), but do not spend too much time on any one question and DO NOT summarize the plot. Try to incorporate your knowledge of the fiction vocabulary into your answers.

Question

The previous history of Ivan Ilych was the simplest, the most ordinary, and the most awful.

Answer

This one-sentence paragraph from Tolstoy’s novella The Death of Ivan Ilych acts as a thesis for Ivan’s life. Ivan, the work’s protagonist, is portrayed as an Everyman figure who does not think for himself, but whose actions are dictated by a societal comme il faut, or a sense of how things should be. Ivan makes decisions corresponding to what his superiors, family, and friends think is the best for him; his decisions are, therefore, based on what is decorous and pleasing, not on what would make his life worthwhile, or rewarding. Ivan’s life, when juxtaposed with Gerasim’s--an exemplar of a simple, yet empathetic and fulfilling life--may be see as truly shallow, and therefore simple, ordinary, and awful.