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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 language does Rolf Rolfson speak?

2. What is the name of Jacob Olafson's boat?

3. What nationality was King Robert the Bruce?

4. What job does Jock Seatter do in Norday?

5. What does Matthew Ragnarson buy from the village store at the beginning of chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the things that village people buy at Isa Estquoy's shop on Norday Island?

2. Why is Mr. Simon's lesson on Bannockburn so boring?

3. What is Mr. Harcourt-Smithers place within the island community?

4. When Thorfinn and his father are in the smithy, the men are talking politics. What point of view does MacTavish take?

5. Why does the school teacher, Mr. Simon, have trouble paying for his groceries at the village shop in Norday?

6. In chapter four where does the school teacher, Mr. Simon, take the class?

7. When and where does Old Jacob Olafson die?

8. When Sir James MacTavish is on his way to the battle of Bannockburn he meets a herdsman. What has the herdsman never heard of?

9. What is the family situation of Matthew Ragnarson at the beginning of the book?

10. Why does Jacob Olafson run away on the day of his sister's wedding?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Although the book is written in English, it is full of a distinct dialect that is Scottish/Orkney. Go through the book, lifting out phrases, words and names which reveal "Beside the Ocean of Time" to be a book written in a very specific and interesting dialect of the English language.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on the idea of a muse, in both ancient Greek literature and here, in chapter 5. How does Sophie function as a muse? Find one example of an ancient Greek muse and compare her to that example.

Essay Topic 3

Why do Sophie and Thorfinn return to the barren community of Norday Island? What does their return represent? What is George Makay Brown's message in their return? What is the place of the artist in the world?

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