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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. The narrator's mom once told him that he had the blood of a ________ noblemen flowing through his veins.

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

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

4. What is Guillermo Reyes's rocket compared to in Chapter 34?

5. What island does Mary and the Captain land the Bahia?

Short Essay Questions

1. Does Leon Trout obey the Father's request for him to go into the blue tunnel? Explain.

2. What happens to Kazakh in Chapter 31?

3. According to the narrator, are there anymore left handed people in the world? Explain.

4. Why is the Bahia considered to be a ghost ship in the opinion of humankind?

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

6. What is the irony behind the marriage of Mary Kaplan and Willard Flemming in Book 2: Chapter 4?

7. What is the story behind Selena MacIntosh's blindness?

8. What is the launching of Reyes's missile compared to in Chapter 34?

9. What does the cancellation of "the Nature Cruise of the Century" mean to everyone in the bus in front of the Hotel El Dorado?

10. Did James Wait ever reproduce? Explain.

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the need for human companionship as seen in the novel. To what extent do the characters need one another? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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