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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 are the invaders known as?

2. Why do some humans still work?

3. Where does Rupert Boyce live?

4. What is true about Earth in the 21st century?

5. What is the first thing the spectators experience after a spaceship lands?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the Overlords, and where are they found at the beginning of Chapter 2?

2. What are Rashaverak's feelings about Rupert Boyce as he relates them to Karellen?

3. How does Rupert Boyce explain the presence of an Overlord, Rashaverak, at his party?

4. How is Rikki Stormgren freed from the group that has kidnapped him?

5. Why does Karellen want two children to come inside the ship with him?

6. What does Alexander Wainwright believe the Overlords are waiting for before revealing themselves?

7. Who is Pieter Van Ryberg, and what does he do after Rikki Stormgren's disappearance?

8. What is so shocking about the Overlords' appearance as revealed in Chapter 5?

9. What group kidnaps Rikki Stormgren, and for what reason?

10. What does Jan Rodricks ask Professor Sullivan to help him do, and what is Sullivan's response?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Overlord "inspector," Thanthalteresco, is sent to observe activities on New Athens. Thanthalteresco, along with Karellen and Rashaverak, become the central Overlord characters of the novel, each with distinctive roles. Compare and contrast the work and relationships of these three Overlords with humans, noting their unique roles. Thanthalteresco seems especially interested in George Greggson's son, Jeffrey. Describe the relationship, emphasizing its positive or negative aspects. Karellen's attitude toward humans seems to change over the course of the novel. Describe that attitude, and explain why it may have changed entirely during the arc of the story.

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the book, Clarke drops subtle hints (and some not so subtle) of what is to come, employing the literary device of foreshadowing. Identify at least three major incidences of foreshadowing, in which an event in the book points toward its ultimate conclusion. With each event earlier in the book, cite the event that fulfills the foreshadowing that came earlier, and the plot elements that moved the story from the foreshadowing incident to the outcome.

Essay Topic 3

Karellen reveals himself in Chapter 5. He invites two children to join him on board his ship before he exits. Consider whether or not children have an inherent fear of the same things adults find frightening, or if fear is a learned response. Discuss the differences between what is frightening to a child and what is frightening to an adult. Describe Karellen's rationale in revealing himself in the fashion he does, based on what he has discerned about human nature.

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