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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 Jan Rodricks' mother do?

2. What has revolutionized the Earth's economy?

3. What does Pierre Duval conclude about the screen in the aliens' ship?

4. Where are George Greggson and Jean Morrel from?

5. Where did the American scientist and Russian scientist in Chapter 1 serve together at the end of WWII?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Pierre Duval, and what is his significance in the story?

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

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

4. What is the relationship between Reinhold Hoffmann and the Russian scientist Konrad Schneider?

5. Who is Grigorievitch, and what expectations does he have of Konrad Schneider?

6. What game does Rupert Boyce play with his remaining guests, and why?

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

8. What are some of the adjustments the Overlords have to make to adapt to being on Earth?

9. What is the role of the American scientist Reinhold Hoffmann?

10. Why are professional sports almost obsolete in 2050?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

New Athens is introduced as another backdrop for events in the novel, and Ben Salomon is identified as the colony's founder. Contrast the differences in New Athens and the rest of the Utopian society. Discuss Salomon's rationale in founding New Athens. Note and emphasize his desire for it to be an artists' colony and his reasoning behind that decision. Another biblical reference is noted with Salomon and his comparison to Moses. Discuss the spiritual (but not necessarily religious) implications in Salomon's work.

Essay Topic 2

The last few chapters of "Childhood's End" are tinged with definite melancholy and a sense of loss. Discuss George Greggson and Jean Morrel's feelings as their two children seem to be slipping away. Discuss if this is akin to the grief someone would feel at the death of a loved one. Compare the sense of loss they feel with the emotions Karellen seems to be developing toward the end of the story. Are the two children really "lost"? Explain your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Jan Rodricks decides to hide himself in a whale display that will be loaded on board the Overlords' ship and transported to their planet. Discuss the price he has to pay relative to friends and loved ones by going through with his plot. Was it "worth it"? Explain. Rodricks also refers to the story of Jonah and the whale, another one of several biblical references in the novel. Discuss what parallels to the biblical account he sees in his own life.

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