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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 were the satellites like that fell to Earth after the October Event?

2. What is ecopoiesis?

3. What does Jason recall?

4. To what does Jason call everyone's attention?

5. What does Diane tell Tyler when she returns to the motel room?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Tyler quickly stop reading the letters from his father to his mother and what do you think is the implication of it?

2. Why does E. D. know about the attributes of Spin and why does he reveal this information to Jason?

3. How does Jason giving Simon a ride in his Ferrari so that they can get a part for their broken car show the contrast between Jason and his sister, Diane?

4. What movement does Diane belong to and how is that movement characterized? How is the behavior of the movement ironic?

5. Why do you think most of the Lawtons converge on Washington, D.C. to be witho Belinda, who has suffered a severe stroke and is not expected to live?

6. What incident does Tyler recall and what theme does this incident reveal?

7. What does E.D. reveal to Jason about the membrane called "Spin"?

8. What is one theme that first appears in this chapter?

9. Simon is the person Diane seems to have chosen for her lover at this time in her life and yet Jason thinks Simon is the least possible good for Diane. What do you think Jason means by this?

10. What might be a possible reason that the end of the story is given at the beginning of the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tyler is writing a record of his past, which could be called a journal, memoir or autobiography. Discuss the following:

What is a journal? Is it the same as a memoir or autobiography? Why or why not.

What is gained by framing this story in the format of a memoir? What is lost by doing so?

Although Spin is a work of fiction, the author would have the readers "suspend their disbelief" and view it as an actual memoir describing actual events. If the reader were to assume the events described in Tyler's writings were actually true, how do you think the point of view of the narrator would bias the account?

Essay Topic 2

Religious cults exist in this story and in "real" life. Discuss one of the following:

How does the appearance of Spin affect conventional and non-conventional religious institutions?

Is joining a religious cult a healthy or unhealthy way of dealing with Spin? Explain fully with examples.

Compare and contrast how a cult in this story is similar to a cult that has existed in "real" life.

Essay Topic 3

The chapter titled "No Single Thing Abides" suggests both a major theme in the book and perhaps in "real" life. Discuss one of the following:

Is anything absolute in Spin? In life? Explain fully with examples.

The events in Spin suggests that all is transitory, a theme that has been expounded by numerous religious groups both in Spin and the real world. Do you think the essence of nature is that all things pass away eventually? Why or why not?

How could the perspective that all is transitory impact your life if it is true? How could it change the way you respond to both tragedy and good luck? Explain fully with examples.

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