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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 sign does the narrator finally choose as his response to the first sign?

2. What does the dinosaur do in the dream Fern-flower first tells Qfwfq about?

3. Who gives Qfwfq and Dean (k)yK the libraries, magazines, and computers they need for their calculations?

4. How does Dean (k)yK try to back out of the bet that there will be atoms?

5. What does Qfwfq discover when he goes to spy out the reported dinosaurs?

Short Essay Questions

1. What second enormous hand sign does the narrator make, and why?

2. What happens to the initial wealth that Qfwfq builds up?

3. How does the narrator describe being with Ursula H'x when their routes intersect?

4. What does N'ba N'ga like about the water where he lives?

5. How does the narrator see evolution as confining?

6. Describe N'ba N'ga's objections to living on land.

7. What causes the narrator's suspicions about the female he encounters?

8. In the end of the mollusk's story, in what way does he encounter the female mollusk?

9. Which bets does Qfwfq find most satisfying?

10. How does Lll react when she first meets N'ba N'ga?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout COSMICOMICS, Qfwfq and the unnamed narrator have rivalries with other characters. Discuss rivalry in COSMICOMICS.

1) The narrator has rivalries for love in "The Form of Space," "The Aquatic Uncle," and "The Distance of the Moon." How does love relate to rivalry? What causes the rivalries in these stories, and how are rivalries based on competing love unique?

2) The narrator has rivalries based on competition in "A Sign in Space," "Games without End," and "How Much Shall We Bet?" How does competition relate to rivalry? What causes the rivalries in these stories? How is competition resolved?

3) How are rivalries perpetuated in Calvino's stories?

(see the answer keys)

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