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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 risky experiment does the narrator of "Exhalation" undertake?

2. In Bashaarat’s second tale, what shocked the young weaver about his future self?

3. Who is the young weaver in Bashaarat’s second tale?

4. According to Bashaarat, on what street did Hassan avoid being trampled by a horse?

5. What is Derek Brook’s role in developing the digients?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has the digient community expanded in Chapter 2 of "The Lifecycle of Software Objects"?

2. Who is Jennifer Chase? What pitch does she make in Chapter 8 of "The Lifecycle of Software Objects"?

3. In "Exhalation," what irregularity occurs on the first day of the year?

4. What have people come to expect from digients in Chapter 5 of "The Lifecycle of Software Objects"?

5. According to the narrator of "What's Expected of Us," how does the Predictor appear to support free will? How does it support determinism?

6. What experiment does the narrator of "Exhalation" undertake in order to understand the irregularity? How does he prepare for the experiment?

7. What happens in "The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker"?

8. What does the reader learn about the beings as the story "Exhalation" opens on pages 37 and 38?

9. Why does Fuwaad travel through the Gate of Years? What does he discover?

10. What is the public's reaction to the narrator's discovery in "Exhalation"? How does the narrator react?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many characters in this collection highlight the idea the past is never truly past. Choose three characters (from three different stories) and explain how each illustrates this idea.

Essay Topic 2

The extinction of a species is integral to “Exhalation,” “The Great Silence,” and “The Lifecycle of Software Objects.” Discuss how this theme influences the characters in each story.

Essay Topic 3

At the end of “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” Fuwaad says, “Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough” (36). Explain how his words apply to characters in three other stories.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 924 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample