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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 personal characteristic do Mark, Maurice, and VJ have in common?

2. What happens to Mark Murray?

3. How old is VJ at the beginning of Chapter 1?

4. What are the results of VJ's personality and skills tests?

5. Where does Victor go after VJ's medical tests?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who meets the Frank family when they return to their home?

2. What is the company's conflict with George Gephardt?

3. What does Victor see that he was doing on the day that the records show the missing files were deleted from his computer?

4. What is Victor's response to the news of Mark Murray's illness?

5. What do the similarities between the three boys' births and unusual aptitudes imply?

6. What does the baby do with the object it grabs when it is first born?

7. How do Victor's test results on Mark and Maurice compare to VJ's test results?

8. What interrupts Marsha and Victor at the end of Chapter 6?

9. What does Marsha find difficult to accept about VJ's personality?

10. What is Marsha's attitude toward what she discovers Victor has done?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel Mutation addresses the ethics of scientific experimentation. Discuss this aspect of the novel.

1) What types of questionable ethical decisions does Victor make? What are the consequences of these decisions? What is Victor's point of view about the morality of his experimentation?

2) How does VJ approach ethical and moral questions? Does he consider ethics? Why or why not? What are his considerations when deciding what the right thing to do is?

3) What role does ethics and morality play in science in general in the novel? Do any scientists consider ethical questions?

Essay Topic 2

One important element in the novel is the nature of science. Discuss the nature of science as portrayed in the novel.

1) What is the purpose of science? What do the characters in the novel use science to accomplish?

2) Is science in itself good, bad, or neutral? How does the novel put a value on science?

3) How does the portrayal of science in the novel compare to the reality of science?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the novel's portrayal of intelligence.

1) What does high intelligence change about a person? How does VJ's intelligence affect him? How are Maurice and Mark' affected by their genius-level intelligence?

2) How does low intelligence affect a person? Discuss the portrayal of Philip, who is mentally handicapped.

3) How are the characters with normal-range intelligence affected by their intellectual abilities?

(see the answer keys)

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