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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Zerchi do to Cors after the girl and her baby go to the mercy camp?

2. How does Zerchi respond to news reports about the nuclear crisis?

3. What does Sister Helene interrupt Joshua doing?

4. What does Benjamin say the sign outside his tent means?

5. What does Taddeo request for his journey?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Paulo opposed to euthanasia?

2. Why do the Poet's jokes cause so much upset at the dinner?

3. What is Armbruster's attitude toward books and toward Taddeo's studies?

4. Describe Mad Bear's political plans.

5. Why is the APLAC a necessary device?

6. Why have nuclear weapons been banned?

7. Why does the idea that mankind is a servant race created by a society of betters appeal to Taddeo?

8. Who is eligible for euthanasia?

9. What is the literary style of the story of the Flame Deluge read to Taddeo at the beginning of Chapter 18?

10. How is Zerchi required to practice what he preaches about suffering and euthanasia?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel presents dreams, impressions, and myths of the characters, such as the abbot's dream about Rachel, Joshua's impression of the possible snake in the garden, Zerchi's hallucinations as he is dying, and myths about the Great Deluge and Leibowitz. How can the reader and the characters tell the truth from human perception or myth? In what way, or ways, are these perceptions and myths real? In what way or ways are they false?

Essay Topic 2

Compare the technology of Kornhoer's invention with Zerchi's malfunctioning APLAC. What do these two machines say about the respective cultures that develop them? Why are they developed? How do the characters in the novel feel about the machines? How do these machines exemplify the positive and negative aspects of technology?

Essay Topic 3

What is the nature and meaning of ritual in the novel? What is the purpose of the elaborate ritual of canonization, although the Pope and Vatican are poor? What are the rituals of the monks, and do they serve to preserve knowledge or to hide it? What is the purpose of Francis' ritual fast in the desert? Are these and other rituals in the novel effective? What happens when ritual loses its original meaning?

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This section contains 784 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample