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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 worries Ford when he tells the elevator that he wants to go to the 23rd floor?

2. What size is the spacecraft that lands at Tricia's house?

3. What hits the Earth that is the subject of this novel and makes it different from other Earths?

4. What does Gail tell Tricia?

5. What does Ford decide to do, after discovering the editor's office full of armed men?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the relocation office, when Arthur imagines himself back on Earth, what does he imagine doing?

2. What is Ford surprised to find while he's doing what he came to the virtual reality for?

3. How does Tricia hope to get an audition for the job she wants?

4. Who comes to find out what Ford is doing in the virtual reality?

5. Why are officials unconcerned about Fenchurch's disappearance?

6. How do the aliens on Arthur's new planet physically differ from humans?

7. What metaphor does Tricia think of, for trying to live life according to a plan?

8. What do the aliens tell Tricia about Elvis?

9. How does Tricia fail her interview?

10. How does Arthur recognize the maps of NowWhat?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss chance and randomness in the novel.

1) How does chance and randomness affect the Earth and its different possibilities in different dimensions?

2) How does the existence of the new Guide destroy chance and randomness?

3) How does chance and randomness affect the characters, for good or ill, in the story?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Discuss happiness in the novel.

1) What creates happiness in the novel? Are the factors that contribute to happiness internal or external?

2) How do personality and identity contribute to happiness in the novel?

3) What is the relationship between happiness and belonging in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 800 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample