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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. While waiting for villagers to arrive and take him to the hospital, how did Sacks feel?
2. What would happen if Sacks were not found by nightfall?
3. What was Luria's response to Sacks's story?
4. What other word is connoted by the word "hell"?
5. How did Sacks splint his leg?
Short Essay Questions
1. Sacks says that simply his ability to stand changed the world and his place in it. How did this happen?
2. What happened after Sacks tried to catch the bus outside the Kilburn pool? How did this exactly match his previous experiences?
3. While descending the mountain, what vision did Sacks cling to? Why do you think this was the picture he chose?
4. 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?
5. All of Chapter Five is devoted to the moment Sacks took his first step. What literary effect does this have on the book?
6. How does the quote at the beginning of Chapter Four compare to Sacks's own words which begin the chapter?
7. The night before his cast was taken off, Sacks repeatedly dreamed a nightmare. What was this nightmare? How did it reveal the conflict in his mind?
8. How did Sacks move from the world of freedom into the world of the hospital? How might this have contributed to his thought that the operation on the following day would actually be an execution?
9. How does Sacks describe his first few steps? How might this description be applied to another time in life, one which has never been described?
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?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
As Sacks was being pressured to begin walking, what miracle occurred? How was this miracle the same thing he had been working toward since his accident?
Essay Topic 2
How did Sacks achieve the certainty which "bypassed the most complex mathematics" (Chapter Five, pg 121)? Was there any element of divinity in this certainty? How did this certainty relate to his idea of the world as a whole?
Essay Topic 3
How does Sacks describe his first ten minutes of walking again (Chapter Five, pgs 123-24)? How did this return him to the moment of humanity? How does this compare to Donne's quote at the beginning of Chapter Two?
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This section contains 1,737 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) |
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