View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What beast does Mal note can lead to treasure?

2. What answer does Nighthand give to his riddle?

3. What gem is Anja wearing when she greets Mal, Christopher, Irian, and Nighthand?

4. What name had Mal suggested for Jacques?

5. What does Mal call the worst question?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does the Immortal have the maze around the Glimourie Tree built?

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

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

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

6. Why do sphinxes ask riddles in the novel?

7. What is the significance of pegasan sails?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Similarly, the lengths of chapters influence reading. What pattern of chapter-length is present in the novel, if any? What effect does the length of chapters have on the reading? How is the effect achieved?

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

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 585 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample