Question

God Sees the Truth, But Waits:

PART A: Which statement best expresses the theme of the short story?
A. Showing someone mercy and granting them forgiveness can be a freeing experience.
B. Holding onto the anger you have for another person hurts you more than it hurts
them.
C. It's important to make the best of a difficult situation and find value in it.
D. Life isn't always fair and sometimes good people are punished for no reason.

PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?
A. "'Here is this blood-stained knife in your bag and your face and manner betray you! Tell me how you killed him, and how much money you stole?'" (Paragraph 18)
B. "The prison authorities liked Aksionov for his meekness, and his fellow-prisoners
respected him: they called him 'Grandfather,' and 'The Saint.'" (Paragraph 32)
C. "the chains, the convicts, all the twenty-six years of his prison life, and his premature old age. The thought of it all made him so wretched that he was ready to kill himself." (Paragraph 50)
D. "'God will forgive you!' said he. 'Maybe I am a hundred times worse than you.' And at these words his heart grew light, and the longing for home left him." (Paragraph 71)

How does being sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit most affect Aksionov?
A. He becomes obsessed with proving his innocence to his fellow prisoners.
B. He lets go of the anger and bitterness he has for the person who framed him.
C. He commits himself to studying religion and praying to his god.
D. He falls into a deep depression and is unable to find meaning in anything.

PART A: How does the narrator's description of the arrival of Makar help build tension?
A. The narrator reveals to the reader that Makar is the man who framed Aksionov, while Aksionov's character is still unsure.
B. The narrator provides details that hint to Aksionov and the reader that Makar could be the one who framed him.
C. The narrator describes Makar and his arrival in a way that causes Aksionov and the
reader to believe that someone else framed Aksionov.
D. The narrator provides details that prove, without a doubt to the reader and Aksionov, that Makar is the one responsible for framing him.

PART B: Which quote from the text best supports the answer to Part A (Paragraphs 35-43)?
A. "One of the new convicts, a tall, strong man of sixty, with a closely-cropped grey beard, was telling the others what be had been arrested for." (Paragraph 35)
B. "'I once really did something wrong, and ought by rights to have come here long ago, but that time I was not found out." (Paragraph 36)
C. "'The Aksionovs are rich, though their father is in Siberia: a sinner like ourselves, it
seems! As for you, Gran'dad, how did you come here?" (Paragraph 40)
D. "He would have said no more, but his companions told the newcomers how Aksionov came to be in Siberia… and Aksionov had been unjustly condemned." (Paragraph 43)

Answer 1

PART A: D. Life isn't always fair and sometimes good people are punished for no reason.

PART B: C. "the chains, the convicts, all the twenty-six years of his prison life, and his premature old age. The thought of it all made him so wretched that he was ready to kill himself." (Paragraph 50) Being sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit most affects Aksionov in D. He falls into a deep depression and is unable to find meaning in anything.

PART A: B. The narrator provides details that hint to Aksionov and the reader that Makar could be the one who framed him.

PART B: D. "He would have said no more, but his companions told the newcomers how Aksionov came to be in Siberia… and Aksionov had been unjustly condemned." (Paragraph 43)