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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 the narrator characterize the work, in Taker culture, of killing off nature?
(a) Necessary
(b) Sacrilegious
(c) Tragic
(d) Holy

2. What does the narrator say is the first thing that the Takers do that no one else in nature does?
(a) Rationalize their murder
(b) Exterminate competitors
(c) Execute murderers
(d) Claim territory for themselves

3. Why does the narrator say that he understands why Ishmael asked him to define the laws himself?
(a) Because Ishmael did not want him to be reliant upon him
(b) Because Ishmael wanted to get him accustomed to doing things for himself, for when Ishmael was no longer around
(c) Because if Ishmael had described them, he would not have thought them important
(d) Because he had to relinquish beliefs of his own, to see the laws

4. After the narrator describes his law, how does Ishmael reword it?
(a) You can compete but you cannot wage war
(b) You can eat your fill, but after a certain young age, the young have to kill their own food
(c) You can murder, but only to eat
(d) The health of a community is found in the strength of its top predators

5. What is the second thing that the narrator says the Takers do, which is not done in nature?
(a) Sell their produce
(b) Deny competitors access to food
(c) Steal other animals’ food
(d) Turn killing into an abstract law

Short Answer Questions

1. For whose benefit does Ishmael say the Takers accumulate and preserve knowledge?

2. What does the law Ishmael believes the narartor is looking for in Chapter 8 prevent?

3. Who does Ishmael say is fueling the Third World population explosion?

4. What does Ishmael say ‘Adam’ means?

5. What method does the narrator say he would use, to deduce the laws of the group Ishmael describes in Chapter 7?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What keeps the narrator from returning to the office building for a few days?

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

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

7. Why does the narrator say that he is depressed when he does not see Ishmael for a few days?

8. What does the narrator say is his chief objection to the Leavers’ lifestyle?

9. How does Ishmael say the Takers explain their divergence from the peace-keeping law that has kept nature harmonious for three million years?

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

(see the answer keys)

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