1. How does Ishmael define a story?
(a) A manifestation of the self seeking its center through experience
(b) A scenario interrelating man, the world and the gods
(c) A fiction that makes factual life possible
(d) A set of events aligned by a human experience of them

2. When does the narrator recognize Ishmael in Chapter 1?
(a) When he is staring into his own eyes
(b) When Ishmael speaks to him
(c) When Ishmael growls
(d) When the keeper forces Ishmael to move

3. What does Ishmael say is mythical about the story the narrator tells in Chapter 3?
(a) The facts themselves
(b) The chronology
(c) The implied redemption
(d) The arrangement of the facts

4. What does the narrator say, in Chapter 5, man did once he made the development that distinguished him from his ancestors?
(a) Set about discovering himself
(b) Set about mastering the world
(c) Set about learning from the animals
(d) Set about telling stories about the exile from the Garden

5. What event does Ishmael say correlates to the birth of the Takers’ story?
(a) The development of trade routes
(b) The discovery of metallurgy
(c) The birth of agriculture
(d) The beginning of writing

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 4, why does the narrator say he does not display the emotion he wants when the narrator finally realizes the truth of what Ishmael has been talking about?

2. What does the narrator say he expected when he answered the newspaper ad?

3. When does the narrator’s creation story begin?

4. In Chapter 5, how does the narrator characterize the world without man?

5. When does Ishmael say he was truly born?

(see the answer key)

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