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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 may keep some people from understanding the insight for which Wil and the narrator are searching?

2. What do Webber and the narrator smell suddenly?

3. What do Will and the narrator hear?

4. Who do the narrator and Webber think might have helped him?

5. What can the narrator not understand?

Short Essay Questions

1. Wwho seems to lead the narrator into the valley, where does he go and what does he do?

2. How did the narrator determine he needed to come to an Appalachian valley?

3. What does the narrator tell Maya about what he believes is her purpose and how does she react?

4. What does Wil say might be the reason no one fully understands the Tenth Insight?

5. What does Joel say to the narrator about his beliefs?

6. What does Wil tell the narrator is the reason for him disappearing in Peru?

7. What do Wil and the narrator do with Williams and what do they learn about him?

8. What does Wil tell the narrator about Soul Groups?

9. What is the narrator doing when he encounters Maya again and what does she tell him? What do they do?

10. What does Long Eagle say about Charlene?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The narrator remembers a previous life. In this life, narration reveals, the narrator was a monk, initiated into an understanding of the Insights and determined to bring them into the wider experience of the Christian church. While being persecuted, he pretended to have an ankle injury to buy himself more time to write out and distribute copies of the first Nine Insights, but was eventually arrested, imprisoned and executed.

1. Given the interest the narrator has in spiritual principles in his present life, explain why his vision of a past life, e.g. being a monk, would be a logical type of past life the narrator might see.

2. With research, if needed, explain why any spiritual system such as the Insights would be contrary to and threatening to the Christian church. Use examples to support your answer.

3. If the Nine Insights have been known for as long as the author asserts, why do you think only a handful of people actually know about them? What might this say about spiritual paths in general? What might this say about the importance of spirituality to the majority of humans?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 6, and indeed throughout the novel, storytelling can clearly be seen as a function of thematic agenda - what happens happens because the author wants to make his philosophical point. This manifests here perhaps more blatantly and directly from other novels without such overt agendas, but at its core the purpose of storytelling remains the same no matter what story is being told - to awaken some sort of reaction and/or increased insight in the reader.

1. Explain, with examples why the first sentence above is true.

2. Why do you think a novel that overtly has an agenda would use most of the actions of the characters, the subplots, the behaviors and situations to advance that agenda more so than a typical novel.

3. Do you think the purpose of storytelling is the same no matter what story is being told - to awaken some sort of reaction and/or increased insight in the reader? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

The repeated coincidences the characters enact challenge credibility. All these points are ultimately moot when considered alongside the author's apparent intention - he is not, it seems, striving to create a logical narrative, but rather to lead the reader into a broader experience of spiritual possibility and understanding.

1. Explain, with examples, why the coincidences in the book are narrative contrivances.

2. If the whole basis of this book is to proselytize for a certain spiritual viewpoint, could one argue that the coincidences were the result of "divine" intervention? Why or why not?

3. Do you think the author could have achieved his purpose without so many coincidences? Why or why not? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.

(see the answer keys)

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