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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 does the psychologist use hypnosis to keep the surveyor and anthropologist from doing?

2. What is the name of the government organization overseeing the expedition?

3. How does the biologist characterize her relationship with her husband in the days immediate prior to his expedition to Area X?

4. What does the surveyor do when they return to base camp in 01: Initiation?

5. Which member of the expedition has had the most weapons training?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why are the members of the expedition told not to share their journals with one another?

2. What do the biologist and the surveyor discover when they wake up at the beginning of 02: Integration?

3. How does the narrator react when she first realizes that the psychologist is issuing a hypnotic command to which she is immune?

4. What is the surveyor's reaction when the biologist tells her that the psychologist has been hypnotizing them?

5. What happens when the members of the expedition call back to the low moaning sound that comes from Area X at dusk?

6. What are some of the results that the biologist gains from her tests in 02: Integration?

7. What is unique about the pool that the biologist had at her home growing up?

8. How does the biologist feel when members of the Southern Reach come for her husband after he returned from Area X?

9. What do the biologist and the surveyor find when they develop the pictures they took in the tunnel?

10. In "Initiation," what does the Biologist say happened to the members of the last expedition?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This novel is an example of Science Fiction. Can Science Fiction be "good literature"? Write an essay answering the questions: What qualifies something as "good literature" and does this novel fall into that category?

Essay Topic 2

The narrator of this text is the Biologist. Write an essay analyzing the pros and cons of Vandermeer's choice to write the text from the first person point of view. Be sure to address the reliability of the narrator.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the relationship between the psychologist and the biologist. Pay special attention to the final scene where the biologist finds the psychologist on the beach. Consider what the psychologist's motivation is compared to the biologist's.

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