View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was head of the English Department at Ilium High School who had proposed marriage to Mary Hepburn?

2. What doubt does Mary Hepburn have that leads her to take action to get a Kanka-bono girl pregnant?

3. What is the theory behind people with more of a streamlined skull?

4. What is the international word for a ship in distress?

5. Who does the surviving group on board the Bahia expect the most trouble to come from in Chapter 37?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Book 2: Chapter 12, what does the narrator suggest as a means for Mary Hepburn to keep on living with the Captain for a little while longer?

2. In the beginning of Chapter 13, what is Selena and Hisako seeking and finding?

3. How does the narrator write this story?

4. Why does James Wait tell Mary Hepburn to call him by his first name? By what name does Mary call James?

5. Is Siegfried von Kleist successful at committing suicide in Chapter 38? Explain.

6. According to the narrator, why do people get hiccups?

7. In the Captain's story he shares with Akiko, how are lobsters much like humans?

8. What does the narrator say after the death of Kazakh and James Wait? Why does he say this?

9. Did James Wait ever reproduce? Explain.

10. How is Prince Richard murdered? Who kills him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Make a case for or against the following statement: "Culture and society is just something that humans do because it is programmed in their brains." Use the novel for evidence to support your case.

Essay Topic 2

The narrator, Leon Trout, states that all the sorrows of humankind are caused by "the only true villain in my story: the oversized human brain." Do you agree with his statement? Explain by using specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Identity and self-image are extremely deceiving as many characters in the novel are not whom they claim to be. Why do you think so many characters in the novel claim to be somebody else completely? What does this tell you about importance and emphasis on image and one's identity?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 675 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample