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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Who does Ishmael say is the exception to the story of the narrator’s culture?
(a) A few thousand savages worldwide
(b) People in socialized countries
(c) The very rich
(d) Urban poor people

3. What does Ishmael say is the pinnacle of the story the narrator tells in Chapter 3?
(a) Literature
(b) God’s laws
(c) Man himself
(d) A just society

4. In Chapter 5, how does the narrator characterize the world without man?
(a) Paradise
(b) Post-apocalyptic dreamscape
(c) Bloody jungle
(d) Raw material

5. In Chapter 4, how does the narrator say men used to live before they became men?
(a) Like every other creature
(b) He says that they were always men
(c) Like the least noble creatures
(d) Like the chosen creatures

6. How long ago did the Takers’ story come into existence?
(a) 200-300 years ago
(b) 10-12 thousand years ago
(c) 2,000 years ago
(d) 20-30 thousand years ago

7. In the narrator’s account of his culture, in Chapter 5, what was the problem early man had to solve?
(a) If he stayed in one place, he would be subject to wars
(b) If he stayed in one place, he would exhaust his food supply
(c) If he traded with other cultures, he would lose his women
(d) If he wanted to farm, he would have to kill off the hunter-gatherers

8. What does the narrator say his relationship with Nazi Germany is?
(a) He has always gone out of his way to avoid learning about it
(b) He is moderately well informed about it
(c) He is a student of it
(d) He is unaware of the details of Nazi rule

9. What end does Ishmael say he foresees for the Takers’ culture?
(a) Catastrophe
(b) Conquest
(c) Chaos
(d) Redemption

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

11. What does Ishmael say he wants, in Chapter 4, when the narrator finally realizes the truth of what Ishmael has been talking about?
(a) Terror
(b) Astonishment
(c) Humility
(d) Gratitude

12. Why does the narrator say he answers the newspaper ad?
(a) To make sure that it is just a scam
(b) To see what he can learn
(c) To be part of the crowd
(d) To see who else shows up

13. What does Ishmael say man’s importance must be, in the eyes of the gods, in the narrator’s creation myth?
(a) Man must attain value as he understands the gods’ laws
(b) Man must be a creature of enormous importance
(c) Man must be insignificant
(d) Certain men must be more important than others

14. When does the narrator’s creation story begin?
(a) 250 thousand years ago
(b) 10- 15 billion years ago
(c) 4 billion years ago
(d) 2 thousand years ago

15. How does Ishmael respond when the narrator says that he does not believe that he is part of a story?
(a) He says that belief is less important than action
(b) He says that it is easier to believe in more incredible things
(c) He says that belief is the beginning of resistance
(d) He says that belief is unimportant

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator answer when Ishmael asks him, in Chapter 5, what man’s destiny is?

2. What does the narrator say was removed when man learned to farm?

3. What is the office building like, where the narrator answers the newspaper ad?

4. In Chapter 6, what does Ishmael say is unobtainable in the narrator’s culture?

5. In Chapter 5, what perspective does Ishmael say the narrator should look at the world from?

(see the answer keys)

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