View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did Sacks descend the mountain?
(a) By crawling.
(b) By hobbling on his right leg.
(c) By rolling and sliding.
(d) By "rowing" with his arms.

2. What was the primary reason that Sacks and his friends celebrated the evening after his surgery?
(a) They were alive and together.
(b) Sacks had not died on the operating table.
(c) Sacks' recovery was expected to take two short months.
(d) They were drunk and did not care what they celebrated.

3. What language was the sign "BEWARE OF THE BULL!" written in?
(a) French.
(b) Norwegian.
(c) English.
(d) German.

4. Who came up with the phrase "quickening art" which described Sacks's use of music to move down the mountain?
(a) Kant.
(b) Harvey.
(c) Pavlov.
(d) Nietzsche.

5. What would happen if Sacks were not found by nightfall?
(a) He would most likely go crazy.
(b) The bull would trample him to death.
(c) He would freeze to death.
(d) He would die of blood loss.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Sacks write the preface to the book?

2. Why did Sacks have strong legs?

3. What town's hospital was Sacks taken to first?

4. While waiting for villagers to arrive and take him to the hospital, how did Sacks feel?

5. What name did Sacks give his windowless hospital room?

Short Essay Questions

1. With what quote does Sacks begin Chapter Three? How does this set the tone for the entire chapter?

2. At his arrival to the Odda hospital, what was Sacks's experience with Nurse Solveig? How did this exemplify the prostration he began to feel in the hospital?

3. To whom did Sacks dedicate the book A Leg to Stand On? Why might he have chosen this person?

4. What is the literary effect of Sacks's description of his injury? Why do you think the injury is not detailed later?

5. What differences exist between the 1993 edition of the book and the previous editions? Without having read the previous edition, do you think these changes are positive?

6. When Sacks's right arm and shoulder were immobilized, what happened? What did this tell him about a person's body image?

7. Leontev and Zaporozhet's book dealt with two hundred soldiers who suffered hand injuries. What was Sacks's reaction to the book? How did it help his healing process?

8. During his first night out of the hospital, Sacks wept in the doorway of the convalescent home. Briefly summarize his experiences so far to explain the tears.

9. Sacks's description of the Caster, Mr. Enoch, is amusingly melodramatic and terrified. In your opinion, why was Sacks scared of Mr. Enoch?

10. While Sacks was lying in his small hospital room, what happened to his eyes? How was this transformation similar to his leg's injury?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,779 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample