STUDY GUIDE FOR THE FIXER BY BERNARD MALAMUD

STUDY QUESTIONS

Choose an answer for each of the following from choices A through J below.

1.) The ruler of Russia at the time of this story.

2.) A group that agitated against the Jews.

3.) Name used to describe a lie that Jews killed Christian children

4.) Name of a real historical figure who was similar to Yakov Bok.

5.) A word that means a small Jewish village

6.) The name of the river that Yakov crossed on his way to Kiev.

7.) The city considered to be the center of the Russian Orthodox religion, referred to as “the Jerusalem of Russia.”

8.) A medicine used at the time of this story. (It was used on Yakov’s legs and feet. It is also what blinded Marfa Golov’s lover.)

9.) The number of centuries that the House of Romanov had ruled Russia.

10.) A massacre done for religious reasons.

Matching Answers

A.) blood libel
B.) carbolic acid
C.) Dnieper
D.) Kiev
E.) Mendel Beilis
F.) pogrom
G.) shtetl
H.) The Black Hundreds
I.) three
J.) Tsar Nicholas II

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUIZ

Answer key for the following questions is at the bottom.

1.) A verst is approximately the same length as

a.) a mile
b.) a yard
c.) a kilometer

2.) Kiev is in

a.) Poland
b.) Ukraine
c.) Romania

3.) Dnieper is the name of

a.) a river
b.) a mountain
c.) a city

4.) What did Yakov trade for a ride across the river?

a.) his tools
b.) his books
c.) a horse

5.) Who was Kogin?

a.) a Jew
b.) a prisoner
c.) a prison guard

6.) Zinaida was also called

a.) Raisl
b.) Sofya
c.) Zina

7.) What country did Russia fight in 1905? Yakov was supposed to take part in this war, but it ended before he did any fighting.

a.) Siberia
b.) Japan
c.) China

8.) The Podol is

a.) a river
b.) a valley
c.) a district

9.) Spinoza is

a.) a counterfeiter
b.) a prosecutor
c.) a philosopher

10.) The body of Zhenia Golov was discovered

a.) in a ditch
b.) in an abandoned house
c.) in a cave

11.) Zhenia Golov

a.) had been strangled
b.) had been stabbed
c.) had been beaten to death

12.) Raisl named her son

a.) Chaiml
b.) Shmuel
c.) Viktor

13.) Yakov was imprisoned in

a.) Moscow
b.) St. Petersburg
c.) Kiev

14.) The last time Yakov saw Shmuel, they were

a.) in the shtetl
b.) in the prison
c.) in a carriage

15.) On the route to the trial in the carriage, a young Cossack rider lost

a.) his sword
b.) his head
c.) his foot

The Fixer by Bernard Malamud-Free BookNotes Summary

Privacy Policy
All Content Copyright©TheBestNotes. All Rights Reserved.
No further distribution without written consent.
44 Users Online | This page has been viewed 152 times
This page was last updated on 5/11/2008 7:52:21 PM