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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the literary term for Ishmael’s saying that he is cold?

2. How does the narrator continue his dialogue with Ishmael in a new setting in Chapter 10?

3. What subsequent interruption kept the narrator from returning for another few days in Chapter 10?

4. Why has the change in Chapter 9 come about?

5. What new name for the Leavers do Ishmael and the narrator arrive at in their discussion in Chapter 12?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. What argument does the narrator offer for why the Takers’ culture is superior to the Leavers’?

9. How does Ishmael says man becomes man?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is Ishmael an attack on Judaic-Christian culture, a call for reform, or something else? Use examples from the text, in addition to your knowledge of Judaic and Christian culture.

Essay Topic 2

Would you recommend Ishmael? For what purposes would you recommend Ishmael, and what kinds of readers would you recommend it for? What other book would you recommend that would cover the same material or tell the same story in a different way?

Essay Topic 3

What is the role of Judaism and Christianity in Ishmael? What is the importance of Walter Sokolow’s Jewishness? What is the role of the narrator’s religion? Ishmael’s?

(see the answer keys)

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