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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. How many of Anja’s seamstresses does it take to outfit Nighthand?

2. To which of the following does Christopher compare nereids?

3. How many hours do Christopher, Nighthand, Irian, and Mal spend recuperating with Anja?

4. What name had Mal suggested for Jacques?

5. Beneath what kind of tree do Mal and Christopher bury Gelifen?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Mal agree to take the potion that will restore her eternal memory?

2. Why is a dryad-wood boat thought impossible?

3. What advice does the ruling sphinx give Irian and Nighthand?

4. Why had Anja been complicit in the attack on Mal?

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

6. Why do sphinxes ask riddles in the novel?

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

8. Why does the caspasaran not suffice to navigate the maze around the Glimourie Tree?

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

10. What functions do the wardens on the Island of Murderers serve?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Typically, an epigraph is expected to speak to or set the tone for the work it introduces. Do the epigraphs of Impossible Creatures do so for the present novel? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

The novel remarks that “the words with the greatest power to create both havoc and marvels are these:
“‘I need your help’” (59).

In the novel and in experience, is the remark correct? How or how not?

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does Impossible Creatures bear as much out?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 545 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample