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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 the anthropologist do when they return to base camp in 01: Initiation?

2. Which member of the expedition is the first to go into the tunnel?

3. To what do the inhaled spores make the narrator immune?

4. What does the biologist do when they return to base camp in 01: Initiation?

5. How does the surveyor seem to feel about the biologist's attempt to change her mind at the end of 02: Integration?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the surveyor's reaction when the biologist tells her that the psychologist has been hypnotizing them?

2. What are some of the results that the biologist gains from her tests in 02: Integration?

3. What is the moaning sound that the expedition hears in Area X?

4. How does the surveyor respond when the biologist asks whether she can perceive the tower breathing?

5. What does the psychologist plan to do while the surveyor and biologist explore the tower in 02: Integration?

6. What does the biologist notice first about the tunnel the second time she enters it?

7. What is the interaction between the biologist and the surveyor before she heads to the lighthouse in 02: Integration?

8. What are the members of the 12th expedition told to do with their journals?

9. How does the narrator react when she first realizes that the psychologist is issuing a hypnotic command to which she is immune?

10. What is recorded about the first expedition into Area X?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At multiple points in the novel, the biologist describes the diverse ecosystem that exists within Area X. At multiple times, she thinks back to ecosystems that she has experienced in her work and her personal life. Write an essay analyzing the role that ecosystem play in the action of the novel. In your conclusion, explain the relevance of ecosystems to the novel's themes.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze Vandermeer's use, or lack their of, of names and the ambiguity of language in the text. Why does Vandermeer keep the charters nameless?

Essay Topic 3

The narrator of this text is the Biologist. Write an essay analyzing the pros and cons of Vandermeer's choice to write the text from the first person point of view. Be sure to address the reliability of the narrator.

(see the answer keys)

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