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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 is the name of the newest god and the island of the gods?

2. In Chapter 3, what subject does Abner Hale study at Yale University?

3. What body of water serves as the setting for the opening section?

4. The island king avoids the celebration after the ceremony, and instead goes home with 14-year-old Tehani. Who is Tehani's father?

5. What early life forms can the ocean bring to an island?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 1, what natural feature does author James Michener describe as dwarfing all others on Earth, and why?

2. How does Abner Hale react when he is told that Hawaiians, including their Alii Nui (queen), Malama, practice polygamy, and that the rocks in the garden are family gods?

3. Nine years later, Abner is delighted to learn that his oldest son, Micah, is returning to Hawaii as a minister. But when he meets the ship, he learns that Micah has married the daughter of Neolani (and granddaughter of the old Alii-Nui, Malama). How does Abner react to this news?

4. How well do King Tamatoa and the high priest get along, and why do you think so?

5. Once the king and his followers settle at their new village site, they make many important decisions about their future. Pick one and discuss it briefly.

6. What does James Michener think of the civilization that existed on the island of Bora Bora at the time that we first see the villagers in Chapter 2?

7. By the time the island emerged again and developed into a lush paradise of unique foliage, ready for discovery, what was the one thing lacking that human explorers would need?

8. After the island in Chapter 1 was fully formed, the earth shifted, sinking it under 1,200 feet of water again for millions of years. What new feature formed around the island during that time?

9. When the wife of missionary Abraham Hewlett goes into labor, Abner must deliver the baby. He consults his book on midwifery but won't gather the herbs that the Hawaiian women say that Mrs. Hewlett will need after the birth. What happens as a result?

10. What happens to the first new village site the king and his followers choose, and is what happens good or bad?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 6, after World War II, the Japanese wife of Goro Sakagama meets with Dr. Sumi Yamazaki, a young sociologist from the University of Hawaii who is making a study of Japanese women who married American G.I.s. Dr. Yamazaki's findings indicate that the happiness of those Japanese brides depends largely on whether the American husband is of Caucasian, Chinese or Japanese descent. Describe Dr. Yamazaki's findings for each of these ethnic groups, and whether you believe her theories to be true or untrue.

Essay Topic 2

What might have happened differently if all of the missionaries who initially came to Hawaii had been like Abner Hale? What might have happened differently if they had all been like John Whipple?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 3, Abner Hale and John Whipple begin as roommates at Yale, and both answer the call to do missionary work in Hawaii, but their paths soon diverge as their decisions bring them into greater and greater conflict with one another. Which of these men eventually feels more fulfilled by the life choices he has made, and why?

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