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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 kind of shoes does Ford buy himself?

2. What does Random do with the rag given to her by the creature in the forest?

3. What do hunters have to do to kill the Perfectly Normal Beasts for food?

4. What illusion does Random walk through in the woods?

5. What does Old Thrashberg say is needed to attract the attention of a Perfectly Normal Beast?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the new Guide demonstrate with a laser and the rain?

2. Why doesn't Arthur's watch tell the right time?

3. What does the man who accosts Ford and Arthur when they enter the London club say?

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

5. What worries Ford about what's happened during his visit to the Guide?

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

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

8. What do Ford and Arthur talk about as they ride the Perfectly Normal Beast away?

9. How does the interview between Tricia and Random go?

10. What is odd about the Perfectly Normal Beast?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The characters in the novel seek a sense of belonging. Discuss belonging in the novel.

1) What causes characters in the novel to feel a sense of belonging or a lack of belonging?

2) Why does Arthur try to seek out Earth? How does he try to find a sense of belonging after failing? What allows him to finally find a sense of belonging?

3) How does Random seek a sense of belonging? How does Arthur's watch provide a possibility of belonging?

4) How does Trillian seek a sense of belonging? How does Tricia seek a sense of belonging, and how does she lack one, even though she is still on Earth?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Mostly Harmless is a humorous novel. Discuss the author's humor and how he uses humor in the novel.

1) What kinds of humor does the author use? How are the characters, situations, and ideas in the novel humorous?

2) How does the ending, and the destruction of Earth, fit in with the humorous nature of the novel?

3) What kinds of liberties does humor allow the author to take? How does humor allow the author to create wildly improbable situations and events?

(see the answer keys)

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