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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 game or sport was accidentally invented by Bilbo's ancestor Bullroarer Took?

2. What does Bilbo's handwriting look like?

3. How does Bilbo find food while skulking around in the Elvenking's palace?

4. Which dwarves are the best at lighting fires?

5. On what day does Elrond read the runes on the swords and on the map?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the trees that the adventurers are hiding in in Chapter 6 manage to catch fire?

2. What has Beorn been doing when he is absent from the house?

3. Why do the goblins take the adventurers prisoner, and what fate do the goblins intend for them?

4. What does Bilbo discover about his sword and how does he discover this?

5. Describe in your own words how the riddle contest between Bilbo and Gollum was played and what the winner of the contest would win.

6. How does Bombur manage to fall into the enchanted stream?

7. Why does Gandalf instruct the dwarves to arrive two by two at five-minute intervals?

8. Describe Beorn in your own words.

9. What is special about the swords that Gandalf and Thorin took from the trolls' hoard of plunder?

10. What does Gandalf leave on Bilbo's door after Bilbo invites him to tea in Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The contrast between light and darkness is often used as a symbol of the contrast between good and evil. Does The Hobbit use this symbolism so that light always represents or symbolizes good while darkness always represents or is associated with evil? Give examples to illustrate your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Song and poems are often significant in The Hobbit. Choose two of the songs or poems that you believe to be particularly important and explain their significance in detail. Ways that a song or poem can be significant may include foreshadowing, revealing character, developing a theme or explaining background.

Essay Topic 3

According to Joseph Cambell's classic analysis of myths, quests and adventure stories (Hero with a Thousand Faces), the classical or archetypal pattern for a mythological quest or adventure is as follows:

1 The call to adventure. The hero usually finds a helper at this stage.

2. The hero crosses the "threshold of adventure."

3. The hero faces various tests and receives magical aid that will help him achieve his quest.

4. The hero faces the final test, which can be the theft of an important talisman, elixir or object.

5. The hero faces another challenge before bringing peace, prosperity, or some other boon to humanity.

Using this outline, does The Hobbit fit the archetypal pattern of a quest adventure? What events and incidences fit into what part of the pattern? Are any parts of the pattern omitted? Does The Hobbit contain any events or incidents that do not fit the pattern?

(see the answer keys)

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