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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 adjective is used to describe the eyes of the child who plays the instrument at the festival?

2. What adjective is used to describe the horses' legs?

3. The scapegoat child is said to have "no understanding of" (8) what?

4. The scapegoat child is said to recall the sound of whose voice?

5. The young men and women stroke what parts of their horses during the festival?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the child who plays a musical instrument within Omelas.

2. How is foreshadowing present within the horse riders' interactions with their horses?

3. How is irony present within LeGuin's description of the losses that Omelas would experience if the scapegoat child were to be set free?

4. What details are given about the scapegoat child's past?

5. What answer does LeGuin expect from the reader in answer to her four questions and why?

6. What details are given about the scapegoat child's future?

7. What details are given about the scapegoat child's present?

8. For what purpose does LeGuin provide a time marker at the start of Paragraph 4?

9. For what purpose does LeGuin include the motif of pain within Paragraph 8?

10. Describe the woman who hands out flowers during the festival.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the reasons why LeGuin uses both the first and second points of view in order to tell the story. What elements of the text's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are LeGuin’s intended effects on the reader?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

Essay Topic 3

Look carefully at the passages of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" that describe in detail the living conditions of the scapegoat child. What is LeGuin’s purpose for discussing this particular setting at length?

(see the answer keys)

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