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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. In the game Qfwfq and Pfwfp play, what happens when two hydrogen atoms collide to create a deuterium or helium atom?

2. What comes out of the fissures in the ground?

3. What does Qfwfq say made the sign recognizable?

4. Where does Mr. Pber^t Pber^d end up?

5. What is the name of the man G'd(w)^n eventually marries?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Qfwfq finally sees Ayl again, after the meteor flying overhead, how does he lure her away from her friends?

2. How does Pfwfp start acting strangely, as the game between him and Qfwfq goes on?

3. What does Qfwfq try to communicate with Ayl when they first meet?

4. What happens to the aunts and uncles when they leave?

5. What object's beauty do Qfwfq and Ayl disagree about?

6. What does Granny say has happened after the darkness comes again at the end of the story?

7. How is the food that the characters collect from the moon made?

8. What happens when Qfwfq comes again to the place where his first sign was, and finds five signs there?

9. Describe Qfwfq's creation of a galaxy.

10. How does Pfwfp disguise new atoms as old ones?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Characters in COSMICOMICS use reason and logic to different degrees to try to understand the universe. Discuss the role of reason and logic in COSMICOMICS.

1) How does Qfwfq use reason and logic to understand the universe in "How Much Shall We Bet?" What does Qfwfq miss about understanding the universe, through using reason and logic?

2) How does the narrator use reason and logic to understand the path of his fall and how to interact with other characters in "The Form of Space"? What role does reason and logic play in the narrator's personal relationships with the other characters?

3) How does Qfwfq's great-uncle use reason and logic to defend his position in "The Aquatic Uncle"? Why does his reason and logic break down when he is asked to make decisions about events that take place on land?

Essay Topic 2

Each story in COSMICOMICS is based on a snippet of information about science. Discuss the role of science in Calvino's stories.

1) How does the author choose the science information to base the stories on? Why are some of the science ideas and theories ones that have been disproved?

2) What role does science play in the stories themselves? Why does Calvino make his stories fantastical, and what relationship does the fantastical have to science?

3) What is Calvino's attitude toward science in COSMICOMICS?

Essay Topic 3

In COSMICOMICS, objects and things outside the self often reflect the self to the outside world. Discuss the role of objects and belongings in COSMICOMICS, and their relationship to identity and self.

1) What is the role of the characters' outer appearance in reflecting their inner selves? How do Ursula H'x and Lieutenant Fenimore's appearances reflect their personalities? How does the mollusk's shell become an embodiment of the mollusk's self?

2) How do objects the characters create and acquire reflect themselves? How does the sign in space become a representation of Qfwfq? How do the hydrogen atoms and the galaxies the boys form in "Games Without End" become representations of the boys, and part of their comparisons with each other?

(see the answer keys)

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