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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. What scenario does Ishmael describe in Chapter 7, which horrifies the narrator?
(a) The meetings of the gods, where the gods do nothing but bicker
(b) A city where every plant and tree is ordered
(c) A jungle where the animals have committee meetings
(d) A city where the neighbors eat each other

2. What is the root of the narrator’s objection to hunter-gatherer life?
(a) Hunter-gatherers are always struggling to stay alive
(b) Hunter-gatherers do not have access to modern medicine
(c) Hunter-gatherers do not treat women as equals
(d) Hunter-gatherers are more liable to die young

3. How does Ishmael describe civilization’s progress in Chapter 7?
(a) As a garden that has worn out the soil
(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 corpse that has been kept alive artificially

4. How does Ishmael describe the first farmers?
(a) Blunderers
(b) Bureaucrats
(c) Scientists
(d) Technocrats

5. What emotion does the narrator say he sees in Ishmael’s eyes, as he realizes that this change has been made in Chapter 9?
(a) Distrust
(b) Wary speculation
(c) Sadness
(d) Demonic joy

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the big change that has taken place at the beginning of Chapter 9?

2. What does Ishmael say the peace-keeping law promotes?

3. What reason explains the change of circumstances when the narrator returns to the office building after several days away from Ishmael in Chapter 10?

4. Where does Ishmael say, in Chapter 7, they should look for a set of laws about how to live?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Ishmael and the narrator agree on for a definition of ‘culture’?

2. How do Ishmael and the narrator say that culture changed when the agricultural revolution took place?

3. What does the narrator say he would do to figure out the fundamental law of the community Ishmael describes?

4. Describe the narrator’s negotiations with Art Owens.

5. What are the three things that Takers do that nothing else in nature does?

6. Where has Ishmael gone when the narrator shows up again at the office building, and how does the narrator reconnect with him?

7. How does Ishmael characterize the work of competing for food in Taker culture?

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

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

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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