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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does the narrator characterize Art Owens?
(a) An energetic cannonball of a man
(b) A hard-eyed black man
(c) A sly, backhanded snake
(d) A weary gentleman

2. For whose benefit does Ishmael say the Leavers accumulate and preserve knowledge?
(a) Their food supply
(b) The creatures they are responsible for
(c) The community of life
(d) Themselves

3. What does Ishmael say has been the result of the Takers’ interpretation of the law he and the narrator discuss in Chapter 8?
(a) To establish one or two just civilizations
(b) To produce a paradise on earth
(c) To bring the benefits of civilization to more people than ever
(d) To bring the world to its knees

4. In Chapter 11, how does Ishmael define culture?
(a) As the knowledge that is passed down generation to generation
(b) As the total set of a people’s actions and words
(c) As the set of answers to a people’s most pressing questions
(d) As the things a people cannot give up without becoming someone else

5. When does Ishmael say the event he put at 8,000 B.C. on his timeline ended?
(a) 5,000 B.C.
(b) He says that it has not ended yet
(c) 2,000 A.D.
(d) 500 B.C.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Ishmael characterize the Takers’ response to the law he and the narrator discuss in Chapter 8?

2. What is the second thing that the narrator says the Takers do, which is not done in nature?

3. What emotion does the narrator say he sees in Ishmael’s eyes, as he realizes that this change has been made in Chapter 9?

4. What does the law Ishmael believes the narartor is looking for in Chapter 8 prevent?

5. What does Ishmael say the Takers repudiated when they split from the Leavers?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ishmael characterize the work of competing for food in Taker culture?

2. What does the narrator say he would do to figure out the fundamental law of the community Ishmael describes?

3. What surprising behavior does Ishmael describe for the narrator in an imaginary hospitable city?

4. How do Ishmael and the narrator say that culture changed when the agricultural revolution took place?

5. What are the gods wary of, in letting Adam have the knowledge of good and evil?

6. How does Ishmael characterize the debate among the gods about an equitable way to take care of the animals?

7. What does the narrator say is the consequence of the Takers’ culture?

8. Why does the narrator say that he is depressed when he does not see Ishmael for a few days?

9. What objection does Ishmael make to the narrator’s questions at the beginning of Chapter 11?

10. What are the three tricks Ishmael says the gods played on the Takers?

(see the answer keys)

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