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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does the narrator have a hard time identifying the creation myth of his culture?
(a) Because creation myths are not myths to people who tell them
(b) Because he has been blinded by a limiting ideology
(c) Because the creation myth is a mystical secret
(d) Because he never took the religious classes where he would have learned it

2. What does Ishmael say, in Chapter 5, is man’s purpose on the earth?
(a) To fulfill it
(b) To dream it
(c) To perfect it
(d) To rule it

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

4. How does Ishmael characterize the notion that agriculture started in the Fertile Crescent?
(a) He says that it is subject to much debate
(b) He says that it has not been proved yet
(c) He says that it is undisputed
(d) He says that it is an old hat

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

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

3. What does Ishmael say is the consequence of thinking that the world was made for us?

4. How does the narrator characterize the 1960s?

5. When does Ishmael say he was truly born?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Ishmael and the narrator see the Takers as similar to early aeronauts?

2. 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?

3. What does Ishmael say the narrator’s creation myth justifies?

4. How does the narrator characterize the problems with the narrator’s culture?

5. Why does Walter Sokolow adopt Ishmael?

6. How does Ishmael say the Takers envision the earth?

7. What is the narrator’s creation myth?

8. What is the narrator’s reaction when he finally recognizes his creation myth as a myth?

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

10. How does Ishmael say Hitler captivated the German people?

(see the answer keys)

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