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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 comes out of the fissures in the ground?

2. What rule does Pfwfp invent for the game?

3. Who does Qfwfq scold, after the family's planet first hits something?

4. Which character accidentally floats up in the air?

5. What does the cleaning woman spend all day doing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Mrs. Ph(i)nK_0 at the end of the story?

2. How does Qfwfq react after he sees that his sign is obliterated?

3. How is Qfwfq and Pfwfp's final game resolved?

4. How is the sign like a name?

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

6. What are Ayl and Qfwfq's attitudes toward difference and sameness?

7. What does G'd(w)^n make once matter begins to condense?

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

9. Describe Mrs. Ph(i)Nk_0.

10. What does Ayl do when she comes from her hiding place with Qfwfq and sees the colors?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

In science, future events are predicable, based on physical laws. From this standpoint of predictable physical laws, it's possible to argue that with enough information, every aspect of the world is fated and predictable. Explain the role that fate and predictability plays in COSMICOMICS and Calvino's point of view on predetermination.

1) How are physical events of the universe predictable in Calvino's stories, such as "How Much Shall We Bet?" and "Games without End"? How are characters in tune with nature and able to predict what will happen, including Qfwfq and the Deaf One, in various stories?

2) How predictable is human nature in Calvino's stories? What elements make human choice less predictable than physical laws?

3) What is Calvino's point of view on predetermination? Are the characters' lives fated, much as the formation of stars is fated?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout COSMICOMICS, perception affects and often creates reality. Discuss the relationship of perception and reality in COSMICOMICS.

1) How do others' opinions of Qfwfq (or the unnamed narrator) shape his opinion of himself and his actions in Calvino's stories?

2) In "All at One Point," how does shared perception create reality? Why is shared perception more powerful than individual perception?

3) How do the different characters' perceptions of change in "At Daybreak" and "Without Colors" affect their experience of reality?

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