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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. When the daemons escape from the Bolvangar, why is the alarm not heard?

2. By the end of Chapter 20, Lyra has decided to take her alethiometer to

3. Lyra meets three girls at the Bolvangar who tell her that when a child is taken, that child

4. What does Mrs. Coulter determine resulted in the escape of the daemons from the Bolvangar?

5. Mrs. Coulter thinks she is opening a tin containing the alethiometer, but instead, the spy-fly comes out and attacks

Short Essay Questions

1. Summarize what Lyra overhears of the conversation about escaped daemons between Mrs. Coulter and the men in the conference room.

2. What is the outcome of the battle between Iorek and Iofur?

3. When Lyra is imprisoned by the armored bears, she reads her alethiometer with help from Pan, who transforms himself into a firefly. What information does the alethiometer reveal?

4. When Lyra consults her alethiometer under the insistence of John Faa to learn more about the Bolvangar, what details does she reveal?

5. When Thorold wakes up Lyra at Lord Asriel's residence in the North, he is concerned. What does he tell her?

6. Which characters serve as Lyra's motherly and fatherly figures?

7. Right before the battle between Iorek and Iofur, Lyra asks to meet and speak with Iorek. Why does she do this?

8. What does Serafina say when Lyra asks her if she loved Farder Coram?

9. As children line up to get hot drinks at the canteen at the Bolvangar, what does Lyra reveal to them about her escape plan?

10. After Lyra and Roger go to Lord Asriel's residence in the North, what does Roger say to Lyra about the man?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Lyra's feelings towards Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter at the start of the story, when she does not yet know they are her parents, and at the conclusion of the book, when she knows they are her parents and has seen what they are capable of. How do her feelings evolve? How do her feelings tear her apart? Despite her mixed feelings, what does Lyra become certain of?

Essay Topic 2

Explain what a daemon signifies to a person. What aspect of the person does his or her daemon represent? Why do you think the author chose, in most cases, to give a daemon the opposite gender of its person?

Essay Topic 3

Philip Pullman creates a world in which humans cannot live without their daemons, who serve as animal spirit guides. This world is also inhabited by armored bears. Explain how the human-animal interactions and relationships enhance the story. Would the effect have been the same if the daemons were people instead of animals? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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