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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. According to the narrator of "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," prisms have a limited amount of what?

2. What caused the preservation of the Atacama mummies, as revealed in "Omphalos"?

3. As Dorothea waits outside the post office, she watches the construction of what cathedral?

4. According to the narrator of "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling," why did his wife abandon the family?

5. What has Rosemary recently purchased in "Omphalos"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Edmund a product of his childhood in "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny"?

2. What are the Atacama mummies and what do they reveal to the world, according to "Omphalos"?

3. At the end of "Omphalos," what does Dorothea vow to continue to do?

4. What inspires Reginald Dacey to create the Automatic Nanny, as revealed on page 175?

5. What does the extinction of its species mean to the narrator in "The Great Silence"?

6. Who is Arthur Lawson and what has he discovered? What does this discovery indicate?

7. What is the effect of Lawson's discovery on Dr. McCullough in "Omphalos"? Why?

8. Who is Angela in "The Truth of Facts, the Truth of Feeling"? What does the reader learn about her on page 186?

9. Why does Lionel Dacey resurrect the Automatic Nanny?

10. What is the Fermi Paradox? What are two solutions that attempt to solve it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay explaining the significance of the title of this collection. How is Exhalation an appropriate title for this collection of stories? How does the title reflect the collection’s themes?

Essay Topic 2

Internal conflicts are apparent in nearly every story in the collection. Discuss three different characters (from three different stories) who experience a conflict with themselves. Explain the nature of the conflict, how it is (or is not resolved), and how it impacts the story’s plot.

Essay Topic 3

What do you think the future has in store for Jax after the close of “The Lifecycle of Software Objects”? Predict his future based on the thoughts and actions of others in the story.

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This section contains 796 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample