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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 political persuasion describes Thomas Vass?

2. Who is Hector Drummond?

3. What keeps Thorfinn awake during church services?

4. What is a kirk?

5. Who digs Olafson's grave?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. When headed down the Volga River what does the crew of the Solan Goose eat?

3. What sorts of food do Thorfinn and Sir James MacTavish eat on their way to Stirling Castle?

4. What do the family and friends of Jacob Olafson do when the old man dies?

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

6. Why is the horse, Seamus, killed on the road to Stirling Castle?

7. Why does Thorfinn not know what the circular ruin is that stands on the shore a mere half mile from his home?

8. When Jacob Olafson returns from his great adventure, what does he bring and what does he find?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Thorfinn leave when the Aerodome project arrives? In the previous chapters he has always dealt with conflict and trouble with stories and imagination? Why doesn't he do that in chapter 7? What has changed? Is the challenge simply too great for him to face? Or has he become a man and is making a different kind of choice?

Essay Topic 2

How would you describe the writing style of this book? Historical fiction? Poetry? Lyrical fiction? Is it a combination of several styles? Describe the style and find examples in the book of this style.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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This section contains 820 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample