IMPORTANT: Comprehension questions will be in chronological order as you read through the story. Page numbers are approximate, and will vary with different editions of the book.
Section 1: Chapters 1-4
Vocabulary
- admonishing: to warn or reprimand someone firmly
- austere: severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance
- benign: gentle and kindly, not harmful
- fastidious: very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail
- opulent: ostentatiously rich and luxurious or lavish
- trudge: walk slowly and with heavy steps, typically because of exhaustion or harsh conditions
- tyranny: cruel and oppressive government or rule
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- My mother lifted an admonishing hand, but it was too late. (Ch. 1, pg.12)
- Mrs. Marshak, a woman noted for being austere, welcomed the embrace with tears of joy.” (Ch. 3, pg. 41)
- “The car stank of animals and the sun that was shining so benignly over Vilna had made a furnace of this place.” (Ch.2, pg. 22)
- “Usually she was composed and fastidiously groomed, but now her face was flushed and her beautiful crown of braids was tumbling down. (Ch. 1, pg. 14)
- “It was a university town, a city of parks and white churches with gold and red towers built by Italian architects in opulent baroque style, a city of lovely old houses hugging the hills and each other.” (Ch. 1, pg. 2)
- “Trudging this road that was like a hairline cut into a barren, grayish field of incredible size, I felt myself to be too little for anything so enormous.” (Ch. 3, pg. 37)
- “Victims of “Victims of tyranny, they needed someone in authority, someone to tell them what to do.” (Ch. 2, pg. 23)
Comprehension Questions
- The five activities that make up Esther’s weekly schedule are: dance class, piano lessions, going to the library, calisthenics, and preparing the Sabbath meal. (Chapter 1, pg. 4)
- The family tradition that Esther is mindful of each morning is to slip out of the bed with the right foot forward for good luck. (Ch. 1, pg. 6)
- Esther’s family is arrested for being capitalists and an enemy of the people. (Ch. 1, pg. 12)
- While packing Esther’s mother breaks the house rule of crying in public. (Ch. 1, pg. 15)
- Grandmother screams when the soldier is calling out names and assigning trains because she and her husband are assigned to different trains. (Ch. 1, pg. 20)
- Even though the children are inside a sealed train, father knows that it is important for them to know where they are, so they know where they are going. (Ch. 2, pgs. 26 – 27)
- On the cattle train the food the soldier brings is a disgusting cabbage soup. (Ch. 2, pg. 29)
- Father was able to guess at their general locations by the accents of the peasants selling produce and by the place names on the stations. (Ch. 2, pg. 32)
- After the family has been marched to Rubtsovsk, Esther, father and mother are assigned to work in the mine and grandmother to the farm. (Ch.3, pg. 40)
- When Esther thinks of Siberia she thinks of snow, criminals, political prisoners, cruel punishments, and death. (Ch. 3, pg. 42)
- On the walls of the family’s home are portraits of Lenin, Stalin, Marx and Engels. (Ch. 4, pg. 44)
- After receiving their work assignments father exclaims, “Insanity! Insanity!,” because the orders make no sense, engineers driving carts, women to dynamite – the world is upside down. (Ch. 4, pg. 49)
- The young boy warns the children that when working in the fields they must do their jobs well so that there will be a good harvest of potatoes. No potatoes, starvation! (Ch. 4, pg. 53)
- Four of the things that the people get used to living at the camp are: the vermin, the scarcity of food and the hard work. (Ch. 4, pg. 61)
Section 2: Chapters 5-9
Vocabulary
- amnesty: an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offenses
- incongruous: not in harmony or keeping with the surrounding or other aspects of something
- melancholy: a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause
- monotony: lack of variety and interest; tedious repetition and routine
- ostentatious: characterized by vulgar or pretentious displays; designed to impress or attract
- ravish : seize and carry off by force
- treason: the crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- The amnesty was given at the joint request of the Polish government in exile in London and the government of Great Britain, Russia’s ally now in the war against the Germans. (Ch. 6, pg. 73)
- Incongruously, as I had sometimes been in the school in Vilna, here to I was the pariah poor little rich girl, the outsider.” (Ch. 8, pg. 107)
- “The principal was an elderly woman with rough gray hair pulled back from a melancholy face. (Ch. 7, pg. 97)
- “The first few weeks of life at the gypsum mine had passed and settled into a monotony that seemed as vast and endless as the steppe itself.” (Ch. 5, pg. 63)
- “I stood perfectly still in front of the roasting sunflower seeds, ostentatiously breathing in and out.” (Ch. 5, pg. 70)
- “The smell was ravishing.” (Ch. 5, pg. 68)
- “It was probably as close to a treasonous thought as he had ever allowed himself.” (Ch.6, pg. 75)
Comprehension Questions
- Esther imagines the summer storm to be the judgment of Go, a God who punishes master and slave alike. (Ch. 5, pg. 64)
- The exciting news that Makrinin gives is that six people will be able to go to the village each Sunday. (Ch. 5, pg. 65)
- After selling their personal possession at the market Esther and her grandmother buy a small glassful of sunflower seeds, a piece of meat and a bag of flour. (Ch. 5, pg. 70)
- Fall arrives in Siberia, not with flaming leaves but with a great howling wind. (Ch. 6, pg. 72)
- As she was being snatched from her home, Anya wisely brought her pigskin traveling case, which was filled with creams, soaps, lotions, and so was able to take care of her appearance. (Ch. 6, pg. 76)
- After receiving amnesty and moving to the village outskirts the family members are assigned new jobs; mother is to work in the bakery, and father at a construction job. (Ch. 6, pg. 78)
- Esther nags her parents to find living quarters in the village so that she can attend school. (Ch. 6, pg. 82)
- When Esther and her parents enter the peasant’s home, her nose is assaulted by the heavenly smell of a real peasant soup with meat, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and onions. (Ch. 6, pg. 83)
- Mother doesn’t find the snow enchanting because Esther doesn’t have boots or a coat that is warm enough for the weather. (Ch. 7, pg. 94)
- When visiting the school with her mother, Esther realizes that she is not only starving for food, but for school and children her own age. (Ch. 7, pg 97)
- When Esther answers a question in halting Russian, no one laughs at her because going to school is a privilege and no one was willing to risk losing this because of laughing. (Ch. 7, pg. 102)
- At the news of Grandfather’s death the family begins the rituals of mourning, and because of circumstances they do not have a yahrzeit candle to burn throughout the night so a kerosene lamp is used instead. (Ch. 8, pg. 111)
- When the family arrives at the new hut their major preoccupation is getting rid of the bed lice bugs. (Ch. 9, pg. 115)
- The NKVD is a secret, terror police force and they ask Tata to spy on the people of the village and report all their activities to them. (Ch. 9, pg. 119)
Section 3: Chapters 10-16
Vocabulary
- acquisition: an asset or object bought or obtained, typically by a library or museum
- anguish: severe mental or physical pain or suffering
- breadwinner: a person who earns money to support a family
- cavort: jump or dance around excitedly
- desolate: (of a place) deserted of people and in a state of bleak and dismal emptiness
- dexterous: showing or having skill, especially with the hands
- prudent: acting with or showing care and thought for the future
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- In this world of scarcity, the acquisition of the most trivial or seemingly useless object was a topic for conversation.” (Ch. 11, pg. 133)
- “My face must have expressed my total anguish.” (Ch. 12, pg. 143)
- “As I talked of my intention to become a breadwinner, I watched Mother’s still beautiful but ravaged face for praise that surely was due me for being such an enterprising person.” (Ch. 12, pg. 158)
- “Walking home in the dark, surrounded by the huge steppe now broken by patterns in the lightly melting snow, it was Jack Benny, cavorting around in his ridiculous wig, who was most present…” (Ch. 10, pgs. 123 – 124)
- “After Father left, life in the hut was indeed as desolate as we had thought it would be.” (Ch. 13, pg. 146)
- “Using his stick dexterously, he hobbled off to his corner on his one leg.” (Ch. 13, pg. 136)
- “Honor coming before prudence, I indignantly assured them I was certainly to be trusted before asking the question: with what? (Ch. 13, pg. 147)
Comprehension Questions
- Coral singing with students in assembly gives Esther a sense of belonging. (Ch. 10, pg. 122)
- The informer tells Esther that Svetlana does not like because she is jealous of her braids. (Ch. 10, pgs. 124 – 125)
- Esther and her grandmother plan to turn the small unused piece of land outside the hut into a vegetable patch. (Ch. 11, pg. 132)
- After agreeing with mother’s rebuke for having referred to Vanya as a bum, father remind Esther that people should not be judged by their appearance. (Ch. 11, pg. 135)
- During the second summer at camp people begin to die in droves after contracting typhus. (Ch. 12, pg. 139)
- One day in September a letter arrives on the Ruddmins’s doorstep, it is from Uncle Ben and it contains fifty dollars, which is exchanged for two hundred fifty rubles. (Ch. 12, pg. 141)
- It is said that problems are never in short supply in Siberia. (Ch. 13, pg. 147)
- Before their arrest the family had celebrated Esther’s birthday in Vilna with an extravagant party, with food, decorations, and a trip to the movies to see a Chaplin movie. (Ch. 13, pg. 150 – 151)
- The greatest wish of Mother, Grandmother, and Esther is that the war will be over before Father is sent to the front. (Ch. 14, pg. 154)
- Over time Esther is becoming skilled at deception in selling bread at the free market. (Ch. 14, pg. 158)
- Although mother is reluctant to accept the generosity of others, she cannont reist accepting the soap left on the kitchen table by Zaya. (Ch. 14, pg. 164)
- Marya Nokolayevna agrees to trade a bag of flour, a pail of good potatoes and several liters of milk in exchange for knitting a sweater. (Ch. 15, pg. 169 – 170)
- The one place that Esther forgets the cold is in the library. (Ch. 16, pg. 179)
- Esther’s chifforobe proves useful after moving into Yosef Isayevich’s house as it is used to divide their sleeping quarters. (Ch. 16, pg. 182)
Section 4: Chapters 17-22
Vocabulary
- declamation: a rhetorical exercise; or set speech
- dunning: make persistent demands on (someone), especially for payment of a debt
- exorbitant: at unreasonably high price or charge
- genocide: the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group
- maniacal: exhibiting extremely wild or violent behavior
- oblivious: not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around them
- perpetual: never changing or unending
Vocabulary Usage in the Book
- When the announcement was made in school that there was to be a declamation contest the following August, the devil – or the ham in me – prodded me into entering it.” (Ch. 17, pg.184)
- After considerable dunning on my part, Alexandra Lovovna paid me, a fraction of what she should have;…”. (Ch. 19, pg. 208)
- There was a man in the village who was always receiving ‘Red Cross packages from abroad’ – clothing and food in great profusion which he was suspected of bartering or selling at exorbitant> prices.” (Ch. 18, pg. 197)
- …I could tell just by looking at Mother’s haunted face that another piece of ghastly, incredible news of the continuing genocide had filtered into the village.” (Ch. 19, pg. 208)
- The world was a maniacal, gyrating black funnel of noise and I was in the bottom of it.” (Ch. 18, pg. 204)
- I walked fast, propelled by my rage, oblivious of any storm but the one boiling within me.” (Ch. 18, pg. 203)
- “Perpetually hungry and cold, in the land of exile, I fell in love for the first time.” (Ch. 20, pg. 214)
Comprehension Questions
- Esther tells Raisa Nikitovna that she would like to recite Tatyana’s dream from Pushkin’s, Eugene Onegin at the declamation. (Ch. 17, pg. 185)
- While practicing her speech the day before the performance Esther’s mother tells her that in theater it is a well-known fact that a bad dress rehearsal means a great opening performance. (Ch. 17, pg. 189)
- Esther had not worn shoes to the performance because she had outgrown her one pair of shoes and they had been sold for a piece of bread. (Ch. 17, pg. 193)
- The special thing about the teachers at Esther’s school is that most of them had taught in the universities of Europe and were generous with their knowledge and made learning an adventure. (Ch. 18, pg. 199)
- Before traveling any distance during a Siberian winter, a person always checks the skies for a potential storm. (Ch. 18, Page 202)
- In Natasha’s kitchen, Esther learns to spin. (Ch. 19, pg. 207)
- The peasants finger the pages of the books at the market to test the thickness of the paper as it will be used to make cigarettes and must be thick enough to hold the tobacco. (Ch. 19, pg. 209 – 210)
- Esther decides to run for the office of editor of the paper in hopes that she will come into contact with Yuri and he will notice her. (Ch. 20, pg. 215)
- After becoming editor, Esther realized that Yuri has no literary aspirations and his interest lie in science and math. (Ch. 20, pg. 215 – 216)
- When Esther, Mother, and Grandmother hear of the concentration camps and hominy people were killed they feel lucky that they were deported to Siberia as they had been given life. (Ch. 21, pg. 226)
- Esther finally tells her mother that the reason she does not want to return to Poland is that she is afraid to meet new people and live in a big city again. (Ch. 21, pg. 229)
- When Tata visits Vilna he discovers that the head of the NKVD is now living in their house. (Ch. 21, pg. 231 – 232)
- Esther credits the writing of Dickens, Dumas, and Jack London for helping her escape Siberia, and they would continue to help her on the road back to Poland. (Ch. 22, pg. 237)
- When the train makes its first stop at a Polish village, the Jews are greeted with curses and thrown stones. (Ch. 22, pg. 241)