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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. How does Ishmael characterize the gods in his description of their debates?
(a) As short-sighted people
(b) As troublemakers
(c) As squabblers
(d) As wise men

2. What does the narrator say when Ishmael asks if he would go back to prehistoric times?
(a) He qualifies his agreement
(b) He refuses
(c) He hems and haws and does not answer
(d) He says that he would go gladly

3. Where is Ishmael’s reference to the Second Murderer drawn from?
(a) Homer’s The Iliad
(b) Shakespeare’s Macbeth
(c) Mamet’s Oleanna
(d) Plato’s Republic

4. How does Ishmael describe civilization’s progress in Chapter 7?
(a) As a corpse that has been kept alive artificially
(b) As the free-fall of an aircraft that does not accord with the laws of aerodynamics
(c) As a building built on water
(d) As a garden that has worn out the soil

5. Why does the narrator say he feels a particular feeling after taking a few days off from his discussion with the narrator in Chapter 8?
(a) Because he does not believe that he can change anything himself
(b) Because he is seeing clearly for the first time in his life
(c) Because he is confident that he can use his new knowledge to change things
(d) Because he expects to be abandoned once he has finished Ishmael’s teachings

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Ishmael say the aeronauts proceeded to learn to fly?

2. What does the narrator find when he returns to the office building in Chapter 10 after several days away from Ishmael?

3. What knowledge do the gods discover that allows them to rule the world without being criminals or negligent?

4. What does the narrator say, in Chapter 8, he would be looking for?

5. What assumption does Ishmael say the Takers must have made about the world in order to follow the laws they follow?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ishmael say the Takers are fulfilling the story in which creation came to an end with them?

2. What does Ishmael say is the benefit of what he calls the peace-keeping law?

3. How does Ishmael says man becomes man?

4. What major change has taken place in the dialogue in Chapter 9, and what has brought this change about?

5. How does Ishmael characterize the debate among the gods about an equitable way to take care of the animals?

6. What surprising behavior does Ishmael describe for the narrator in an imaginary hospitable city?

7. What objection does Ishmael make to the narrator’s questions at the beginning of Chapter 11?

8. What does the narrator say is the consequence of the Takers’ culture?

9. The narrator says that he wants to know the Leavers’ story so he can stop the destruction of the Takers’ story. Why does Ishmael say this is insufficient?

10. What are the gods wary of, in letting Adam have the knowledge of good and evil?

(see the answer keys)

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