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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 could Isaac feel the night before the storm?

2. What is Isaac sent to Arkansas to study?

3. What does Moore ban from Cuba?

4. What does the Weather Bureau forbid its stations from doing?

5. What is the name of the most elegant hotel in Galveston?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Isaac observe when he goes to the beach the morning of the storm?

2. What is the purpose of the eighteen-page letter that William Stockman sends to Col. Dunwoody?

3. How does Moore treat the weather forecasting being done in Cuba?

4. What is the butterfly effect?

5. What is the weather like across the country during August 1900?

6. What is the difference between Isaac and Joseph's points of view in the early morning hours of September 8?

7. What happens to the weather in Galveston two days before the storm?

8. What is Galveston like in 1900?

9. What kind of man does the narrator describe Isaac to be?

10. What characteristics do they know in 1900 that all hurricanes have in common?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the true "Law of Storms" as it pertains to the Galveston hurricane?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the title of each of the major parts of the book, their subtle meanings, and the way they add to the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

Isaac said this in relation to deciding on a career: "I then made up my mind that I would seek some field where I could tell big stories and tell the truth." Discuss what he means by this as well as whether he accomplished this goal. What is prophetic about this quote in relation to the hurricane?

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