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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. In what had Anja’s ancestor worked?

2. Where does Christopher bite his attacker?

3. What does Mal call the worst question?

4. To what island does Mal intend to go after burying Gelifen?

5. What do Mal, Christopher, Nighthand, and Irian eat on the Island of Murderers?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Kavil’s employer want the Immortal to be a child?

2. Why do the nereids leave Mal, Christopher, and their companions at the edge of the City of Scholars?

3. Why does the manticore assert Christopher should respect fear?

4. Why does Mal decline to have Nighthand and Irian accompany her and Christopher to bury Gelifen?

5. What is the Somnulum, and what does it do?

6. What is the particular tragedy of Gelifen’s death?

7. What is the significance of Nighthand being stabbed by a karkadann horn?

8. Why did the centaur who made the potion to restore the Immortal’s memory want living gold?

9. What is the significance of pegasan sails?

10. Why is Mal apprehensive about approaching the palace of the Immortal?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sources attest to the presence of Impossible Creatures on best-seller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the novel? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Section divisions, their titles, and chapter numbering / division schema are all components of paratext. That is, they are not part of the text but are associated with it closely and affect its meaning. What significance, if any, accrues to the chapter-naming scheme at work in Impossible Creatures? If there is significance, how does that significance manifest? If there is not, what in the novel supports the paratextual divisions that are in place?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the following comment by Nighthand: “‘Berserkers do not weep,’ he said. ‘And they also do not love. How would they, when they mustn’t fear? Love has fear baked into it” (138). In your reading and experience, is his final remark—that love necessarily includes fear—true? How or how not?

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This section contains 586 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample