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

2. Where is the baby, VJ, born?

3. What day of the week does Chapter 1 begin?

4. What contest does Victor challenge VJ to?

5. Where do Victor and Marsha take VJ for his medical tests?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Marsha tell Victor about his race with VJ, and how does Victor react?

4. Compare Marsha and Victor's attitudes toward their son.

5. What are Marsha's concerns about VJ?

6. What disagreement do Marsha and Victor have about the remaining embryos?

7. What is the implication of Mark and Maurice's illnesses?

8. How does Sharon Carver try to get her job back?

9. What is Victor's emotional reaction to the deleted files?

10. Describe the relationship between VJ and Philip.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the conflict of nature and science in the novel.

1) What is the metaphoric significance of the river, a force of nature, and the clock tower, a work of science, in the novel? How is this metaphor carried out through the novel and especially at its end?

2) How do nature and science conflict in Victor's work? When science manipulates nature, what is the result?

3) In the novel, can mankind succeed in taming or defying nature? To what extent? Support your answer with evidence from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the idea in the novel of special privilege for the gifted.

1) Why does Victor believe that VJ should have special privileges? What special privileges does Victor want for VJ?

2) Why does Marsha disagree with Victor about special privileges for VJ, and to what extent? What are Marsha's arguments?

3) What does the author imply about the danger of special privileges for the gifted?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the structure of the novel.

1) Why does the author choose the particular scenes in the prologue and epilogue? How are they important to the story?

2) Why does the author tell the bulk of the novel over the course of a few days? How does the timeline affect the experience of reading the novel?

3) What are the moments of major revelation, crisis, and change in the novel? When do they occur, and how does the action build and resolve?

(see the answer keys)

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