The Path Through the Cemetery

The ending of this story is ironic because —

• a monster really had grabbed Ivan’s coat

• Ivan had pinned himself to the ground

• the lieutenant had tricked Ivan

• Ivan turned out to be afraid

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On the walk through the cemetery, how does the author use point of view to keep the ending a surprise?

• A subjective narrator enters the minds of all the characters and tells their thoughts.

• A third-person observer tells what is really happening.

• Ivan tells what he sees and thinks in the first person.

• A third-person narrator focuses on Ivan and tells only what he sees and feels.

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Which of these is the best summary of this story?

• Ivan tries to cross a cemetery at night to get to his house but is terrified. He goes to a tavern to get help, and the people there laugh at him. A soldier decides to help him and gives him his saber to protect himself as he crosses the cemetery. Ivan ends up injuring himself with the sword and dies in the cemetery.

• Ivan refuses to walk through the cemetery to his house. A lieutenant walks through and sticks his saber in the ground. He then offers Ivan five gold rubles to go get his saber and return it. Ivan cannot remove the sword, but in his fear he cannot move and, as a result, ends up dying from the cold.

• Ivan is afraid of the darkness in a cemetery he has to cross to get to his home. Everyone in the village taunts him for being a coward, and when a soldier challenges him he tries to overcome his fear and accepts. He accidentally pins his coat to the ground with his saber. He thinks something has grabbed him and dies of fright.

• The villagers find the most timid man they know dead in the cemetery as a result of the cold weather. They realize that a soldier tricked him into the cemetery, which he feared. The soldier stuck his saber in the man’s coat so he could not escape. The villagers blame the soldier for the timid man’s death.

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From the details in paragraph 1, the reader can conclude that the villagers —

• are frightened of Ivan because he has a 'terrible' reputation

• respect Ivan because he shows good judgment

• think little of Ivan because he is so timid and fearful

• are tolerant of Ivan because he has lived in the village a long time

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Read these sentences from paragraph 5.

Ivan murmured, “The cemetery is nothing to

cross, Lieutenant. It is nothing but earth, like all

the other earth.”

From this setting and Ivan’s thoughts, the reader can conclude Ivan —

• has overcome his fear

• is showing false courage

• was never really afraid in the first place

• wants to win the five rubles

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Which of these sentences does not suggest that it was Ivan’s own terror that killed him?

• The wind was cruel and the saber was like ice in his hands.

• Ivan tugged and lurched and pulled—gasping in panic, shaken by a monstrous fear.

• He cried out in terror, then made senseless gurgling noises.

• His face was not that of a frozen man’s, but of a man killed by some nameless horror.

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Read this sentence from paragraph 12.

Something gripped him in an unyielding and

implacable hold.

The word implacable means —

• painful

• gentle

• perfect

• relentless

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In paragraph 6, why does the lieutenant offer Ivan five gold rubles to cross the cemetery?

• He wants to pay Ivan to do something he and the other villagers are afraid to do.

• He thinks Ivan will make a fool of himself and entertain the villagers by failing.

• He is encouraging Ivan to do the sensible thing and take the easy way home.

• He wants to help Ivan overcome his fear by walking through the cemetery.

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Read this sentence from paragraph 4.

“You’ll walk all around the cemetery in

this fiendish cold—but you dare not cross

the cemetery.”

The author uses this metaphor mainly to —

• make the cold seem alive and diabolical

• describe how very cold it really is

• suggest that the cold causes discomfort and pain

• show that the cold can be a friend

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Why does it take great strength to beat the saber into the ground or pull it out?

• The ground is frozen, making it difficult to break into it or pull something out of it.

• The sword is very heavy and extremely sharp, and Ivan does not know how to use it.

• Ivan is not a young, strong soldier like the lieutenant, so pushing and pulling is a challenge.

• Ivan is so afraid of the cemetery that he cannot even summon his strength to do this simple task.

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