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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 does Ford plan to use to buy the spaceship?

2. For what do Ford and Arthur at first mistake the approaching spring migration of the Perfectly Normal Beasts?

3. Where does Old Thrashbarg say the Perfectly Normal Beasts come from?

4. What does Ford order that Arthur doesn't want to eat?

5. What does the new Guide test first, with Random?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Tricia upset by the video footage she has brought back from her trip into space?

2. What is odd about the Perfectly Normal Beast?

3. How does Arthur use Ford's towel to attract a Perfectly Normal Beast?

4. Why is Ford worried about the new Guide?

5. How does Ford get the new Guide out of the Guide offices?

6. What sort of review does Ford give the Bar & Grill?

7. How does Ford suggest getting off Arthur's new home planet?

8. What does the owner of the spaceship that Ford tries to buy tell him?

9. Why is Random fascinated by Arthur's watch?

10. How was Ford saved the second time he jumped out the window of the Guide building?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel is science fiction and extensively uses science ideas and concepts. Discuss the role of science in the novel.

1) What scientific concepts does the author use in the novel? What types of scientific ideas does he emphasize?

2) What is the author's view of science? How is science positive and negative? How do the characters view science and technology?

3) How does the novel fit into the science fiction genre?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss identity in the novel.

1) How do Tricia and Trillian, as two aspects of the same person, exemplify what creates identity?

2) How does Random, as a person who feels without an identity, exemplify what creates identity?

3) What does limited perspective have to do with identity? How does a sense of belonging and a place in the universe relate to identity?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss social satire in the novel.

1) How does the Guide and its offices serve as social satire? How does it represent large corporations in the real world? How does the story of the failed air control system for offices compare to this satire, as a social satire of technology?

2) How do the Vogons function as social satire? What types of people and organizations do they satire? How is bureaucracy depicted?

3) What other elements of social satire are present in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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