View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator say the ad in Chapter 1 was looking for?
(a) Someone who wanted to teach
(b) Someone who wanted to make an investment
(c) Someone who wanted to change the world
(d) Someone who wanted to work with gorillas

2. Whose voice does Ishmael say the narrator is lulled by?
(a) God the Father
(b) Mother Nature
(c) Mother Culture
(d) Father Time

3. What has the narrator’s coldness become, now that he mentions it to Ishmael a second time, at the end of Chapter 5?
(a) A trope
(b) A motif
(c) A character
(d) A symbol

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

5. What role does Ishmael say the Fertile Crescent plays in the narrator’s story?
(a) Center of the world
(b) The birthplace of culture
(c) A distraction
(d) Legendary birthplace of agriculture

Short Answer Questions

1. In the narrator’s account of his culture, in Chapter 5, what was the problem early man had to solve?

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

3. What does the narrator say is his first impression of Ishmael?

4. In Chapter 4, how does the narrator say men used to live before they became men?

5. What does the narrator say, in Chapter 6, is the problem with his culture’s story?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator react when Ishmael finally gets him to see that his culture’s narrative is just a myth—and what is the significance of the narrator’s response?

2. What does Ishmael say is his greatest fantasy?

3. What is the narrator’s creation myth?

4. What does the sign that the narrator notices behind the gorilla say, and what does the narrator interpret it to mean?

5. What does Ishmael say the Takers’ relationship to the Community of Life is?

6. What is the premise that is being played out in the narrator’s creation myth, according to Ishmael?

7. What does Ishmael say man’s purpose is, in the narrator’s creation myth?

8. What is the rival creation story Ishmael tells the narrator?

9. How does Ishmael describe the difference between living in Africa and living in a zoo?

10. What was the consequence of agriculture in the narrator’s account?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 920 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample