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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 decomposed lava rock create?

2. What god was the island chief's father sacrificed to appease?

3. How did trees first begin to grow on the island?

4. When Abner's oldest son married Noelani's daughter, how does Abner react?

5. What god do the island king and his people worship, to the high priest's displeasure?

Short Essay Questions

1. Three years after Mrs. Hewlett's death, Mr. Hewlett marries a Hawaiian girl. How do the ABCFM and the local missionary community react to this news?

2. What does James Michener think of the civilization that existed on the island of Bora Bora at the time that we first see the villagers in Chapter 2?

3. What is Abner's reaction when the crew of a docked whaling ship go on a rampage through the settlement, sacking the homes of Hawaiians and raping their women?

4. Abner and his wife, Jerusha, had four children. When Jerusha dies, what becomes of their children?

5. What dangerous message does Teroro receive from Tehani, the fourteen-year-old girl who takes him to her sleeping quarters after the convocation?

6. When the wife of missionary Abraham Hewlett goes into labor, Abner must deliver the baby. He consults his book on midwifery but won't gather the herbs that the Hawaiian women say that Mrs. Hewlett will need after the birth. What happens as a result?

7. By the time the island emerged again and developed into a lush paradise of unique foliage, ready for discovery, what was the one thing lacking that human explorers would need?

8. What happens to the first new village site the king and his followers choose, and is what happens good or bad?

9. How does the voyage go, and what good and/or bad omens do the travelers encounter?

10. Once the king and his followers settle at their new village site, they make many important decisions about their future. Pick one and discuss it briefly.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How did the geographic isolation of Hawaii affect its history, from the time of King Tamatoa's arrival in the 9th century through its annexation by the United States in 1898?

Essay Topic 2

In his secret journal, missionary Immanuel Quigley wrote: "The Hawaiian is destined to diminish year by year, dispossessed, distraught and confused." In regard to that passage, his descendant Elinor Henderson states that Quigley "...said that we Christians had invaded the islands with the proper God but with an improper set of supporting values. It was his conviction that our God saved the islands, but our ideas killed them. Particularly the Hawaiians." Do you agree or disagree with this view? Explain why, and support your opinion with examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 3, Abner Hale and John Whipple begin as roommates at Yale, and both answer the call to do missionary work in Hawaii, but their paths soon diverge as their decisions bring them into greater and greater conflict with one another. Which of these men eventually feels more fulfilled by the life choices he has made, and why?

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