The Bet By Anton Chekhov 1889 Common lit questions

PART A: Which statement best expresses a theme in the story?
A. Pursuing knowledge and bettering yourself is the best way to spend your time.
B. The desire to prove to others that you’re right can lead to extreme actions.
C. Greed and impulsive decisions can lead to huge consequences.
D. There is nothing worse than depriving someone of human contact.
2. PART B: Which paragraph from the short story best supports the answer to Part A?
A. “He threw himself eagerly into these studies — so much so that the banker had enough to do to get him the books he ordered.” (Paragraph 16)
B. “‘To-morrow at twelve o’clock he will regain his freedom. By our agreement I ought to pay him two million. If I do pay him, it is all over with me: I shall be utterly ruined.’” (Paragraph 21)
C. “At the table a man unlike ordinary people was sitting motionless. He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long curls like a woman’s and a shaggy beard.” (Paragraph 29)
D. “‘And I have only to take this half-dead man, throw him on the bed, stifle him a little with the pillow, and the most conscientious expert would find no sign of a violent death.’” (Paragraph 30)
3. PART A: Which statement best describes how the banker’s actions develop the theme of the story?
A. The banker’s hasty and thoughtless actions lead to trouble and despair for him.
B. The banker’s disregard for human life shows the extent of his lack of
compassion for others.
C. The banker’s adventurous spirit prompts him to create dangerous or risky
situations.
D. The banker’s passionate defense of his views gets him into dangerous situations.
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4. PART B: Which TWO details from the text best support the answer to Part A?
A. “‘Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?’” (Paragraph 1)
B. “‘Think better of it, young man, while there is still time. To me two million is a trifle, but you are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you won’t stay longer.’” (Paragraph 11)
C. “Desperate gambling on the Stock Exchange, wild speculation and the excitability which he could not get over even in advancing years, had by degrees led to the decline of his fortune and the proud, fearless, self-confident millionaire had become a banker of middling rank, trembling at every rise and fall in his investments.” (Paragraph 22)
D. “‘he is asleep and most likely dreaming of the millions. And I have only to take this half-dead man, throw him on the bed, stifle him a little with the pillow, and the most conscientious expert would find no sign of a violent death.’” (Paragraph 30)
E. “At no other time, even when he had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange, had he felt so great a contempt for himself. When he got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping.” (Paragraph 38)
F. “To avoid arousing unnecessary talk, he took from the table the writing in which the millions were renounced, and when he got home locked it up in the fireproof safe.” (Paragraph 39)
5. How does the lawyer provoke the banker’s decision to place the bet?
A. The lawyer questions whether or not the banker has the money to make a worthwhile bet with him.
B. The lawyer suggests that the banker doesn’t have the courage to place such a risky bet against him.
C. The lawyer offers to give the banker two million if he cannot stay in solitary confinement for the agreed upon years.
D. The lawyer proposes that he will remain in solitary confinement even longer than the banker suggests.
6. How does the lawyer’s 15-year imprisonment affect the banker?
A. The banker wishes that he had required the lawyer to stay imprisoned for longer.
B. The banker comes to realize that he was wrong about his stance on life imprisonment.
C. The banker mourns the life and experiences that he has deprived the lawyer of.
D. The banker regrets placing the bet and thinks it was a stupid idea in the first place.