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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. Everyone the author looks, what does he see?

2. How does Millman finally decide to contact the woman whom Socrates mentioned?

3. At what time of the year does Millman arrive in Delhi?

4. Who is Ruth Johnson?

5. What do you think is the hardest thing about leaving for Millman?

Short Essay Questions

1. Did you think it is smart of Dan to just mount a surfboard and go out from shore having no experience with this kind of activity?

2. Dan imagines all sorts of monsters floating beneath his surfboard; what might this metaphorically represent?

3. How has Mama Chia been healing Dan and what do you think of her method?

4. What do you think about what Mama Chia says about suffering?

5. How does Dan decide to commence his search for the woman of whom Socrates had once told Dan, and do you think that is a logical solution?

6. What does Dan say about death and how do you think he will overcome his feelings about it?

7. Dan falls asleep, which could be what is called in literary terms, a "narrative contrivance." What do you think that means in context of this story and Dan falling asleep?

8. Why do you think Mama Chia resumes her work as midwife and kahuna after receiving a letter from Socrates about Dan?

9. What does the college give Dan and where does he go?

10. What does Dan realize he must do at this time in his life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As Mama Chia and Dan are hiking, Mama Chia declares that Dan is strong enough to carry her backpack and sets off. Dan laments, knowing that he is supposed to do something but does nothing. Discuss one of the following:

Analyze what you think Dan is supposed to do and why he seems paralyzed in inaction.

How does Dan finally overcome his inability to do what he is supposed to do?

Do you feel there is something important in your life that you are to do? Discuss your approach to fulfilling that sense of purpose.

Essay Topic 2

Besides being a retired banker, Mama Chia is also a midwife, who is busy bringing a new life into the world while Dan is recuperating from exposure and dehydration. Discuss one of the following:

What are the parallels between Dan's surfboard experience and Mama Chia bringing a new baby into the world?

Discuss the seeming paradox that Mama Chia works for and retires from a bank and is also a shaman and midwife.

What do you think Dan needs to birth?

Essay Topic 3

When Dan has a stopover in Hawaii, he decides to search for a woman about whom Socrates told him. Discuss the following:

How likely is it that Dan will find the woman for whom he is searching in a city of several hundred thousand (at that time)people? Do you think the fact that he finds her is miraculous or coincidental?

Dan might say his finding Ruth Johnson is not coincidental but rather serendipitous or perhaps meant to be. Discuss this idea.

What does it say about Dan or Dan's situation that he even attempts such a daunting task as finding a woman whose name, age, place of work or home is unknown in a city the size of Honolulu?

(see the answer keys)

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