View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Victor learns that Maurice and Mark were killed, he becomes concerned for VJ's safety and begins searching for him. Where does Victor find VJ?

2. What area would the river flood if it broke through?

3. What does Victor think of VJ's work?

4. Why does Victor find it hard to concentrate on his presentation about VJ's work?

5. What does Victor at first think Gephardt must have done with what he purchased?

Short Essay Questions

1. What seems to have prompted VJ to stop going to daycare?

2. What is the result of Marsha's discussion with her colleagues about VJ during Chapter 9?

3. What is Victor's reaction to what Marsha learned from VJ's school?

4. What conclusion does Marsha form about the security employees at VJ's lab?

5. What does Victor finally admit to his wife in Chapter 9?

6. What happens to Sharon Carver at the end of Chapter 9?

7. What does Victor realize about the threatening attacks on the Frank home by Gephardt?

8. Why did VJ want to appear to be less intelligent?

9. How does Marsha's conversation with Philip at the beginning of Chapter 12 end?

10. When Victor returns to the lab, what does he try to convince VJ to do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Marsha is the main female character in the novel, but the novel also includes minor female characters such as Janice and Josephine. Discuss the portrayal of women in the novel.

1) Is Victor's treatment of Marsha and her opinions different from his treatment of men? How does Victor treat women in general in the novel?

2) How is Marsha's perspective as a woman different from Victor's as a man? What do Marsha and Victor's perspectives say about men and women in general?

3) How are other women in the novel, aside from Marsha, portrayed? What commonalities are there among the female characters?

Essay Topic 3

One of the questions at the heart of the novel is the value of genetic engineering. What are the costs and rewards of genetic engineering?

1) What could Victor's discovery of NFG do for society as a whole? What benefits could it bring, and what problems could it cause?

2) What consequences of genetic engineering does the novel focus on? Is the author's treatment of the topic of genetic engineering balanced and objective? What is the author's opinion?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 754 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample