The Cage

Multiple Choice

1. B (Chapter 1)

2. D (Chapter 6)

3. A (Chapter 10)

4. A (Chapter 12)

5. C (Chapter 13)

6. D (Chapter 19)

7. A (Chapter 23)

8. D (Chapter 25)

9. A (Chapter 29)

10. C (Chapter 30)

11. C (Chapter 34)

12. B (Chapter 36)

13. A (Chapter 41)

14. D (Chapter 42)

15. D (Various chapters)

Long Answer

1. The “new green grass” of the springtime sets the early mood, in terms of noting a pattern of thawing “the earth that was cold and frozen all winter” to invite “new life” that can reach “toward the sun” (5). Nature’s harsh winters seem to hurt Riva and her family, no matter where they go. The cold causes pain, injury, and death in the ghetto and in the labor camps. No matter the season, and no matter where Riva is, the sun seems to shine down, as if unaware of the suffering that those below it feel. Nature, then, can seem indifferent to human suffering. The redemptive springtime, across Sender’s story, begins to feel less like a message that promises hope and more like a symbol that characters like Riva must interpret as hopeful: They must make the sounds of the birds and the smell of the grass into symbols for their hope and inspiration for their courage. (Various chapters)

2. Riva can see the effect that her and the other prisoners’ skeletal bodies have on strangers when the Russians arrive at the camp. Though she sees how “tired” the soldiers look, her reaction cannot compare with the “stares” directed toward them. Just as the soldiers seem to wonder if the women are real or just part of a nightmare, the prisoners wonder if this man, who looks like a fairy-tale hero, is real, too. Where their lives have blended nightmare with reality, this soldier blends dreams with reality. (Chapter 47)