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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 human element do the aliens of Arthur's new planet not have?

2. Where does Tricia plan to go in the evening?

3. What department occupies the fifteenth floor of the Guide offices?

4. What is the name of the word that catches Arthur's interest at the relocation center?

5. What does Ford find that has replaced the piece of furniture for which he aimed?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ford return the card he stole from his editor?

2. What does the first prayer that the prophet on the pole gives Arthur ask to protect him from?

3. How does Tricia fail her interview?

4. What does the Hitch Hiker's Guide do to areas where it sets up its offices?

5. What prevents Tricia from going though with her plans for the evening on the day she returns from New York?

6. What does Tricia think is happening when the spaceship lands in her yard?

7. What does the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Mk II look like?

8. How does the Grebulon ship computer know about the hole in the ship?

9. Describe the herring sandwich experiment.

10. What are Arthur's plans after arriving at NowWhat?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the ability to discover and perceive truth in the novel.

1) How do the limitations of knowledge and perception affect the ability to discover truth in the novel? How does it affect Tricia's ability to share her knowledge of the existence of aliens?

2) How is Ford's desire to find out the truth behind the new Guide inhibited by the limits of knowledge and perception?

3) Why are characters in the novel unwilling to try to discover truth? Why do scientists find truth muddled and confusing? Why do characters like the Lamuellans not want to delve into mysteries like the Perfectly Normal Beasts?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Random's character.

1) How is Random incomplete as a person? Why does she lack a sense of belonging and identity? How does this affect her personality?

2) What is the meaning of Random's name? What role does randomness and chance play in her existence?

3) Why does Random react the way she does to her mother, her father, the Guide, Tricia, and Earth? Why does she need to open the package from Ford? Why does she need to take apart Arthur's watch?

Essay Topic 3

In Mostly Harmless, multiple dimensions or possible universes are converging and crossing over into each other. The characters deal with the full range of possibilities. Discuss multiple dimensions in the novel.

1) What is the WSOGMM? Why is this idea important to the novel?

2) Why is it difficult or impossible for any one person to comprehend the totality of dimensions or universes? Why is it dangerous for the Guide to comprehend everything?

3) How do multiple potential possibilities affect the characters in the novel? How does the existence of multiple potential possibilities allow the new Guide to manipulate reality?

(see the answer keys)

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