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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 did George Gephardt purchase fraudulently with company funds?

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

3. Who died of the same cause as VJ's teacher?

4. Who is caught vandalizing Victor's house?

5. What day does Chapter 9 take place?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What information does Kaspwicz uncover hidden on Victor's home computer?

3. What do the police do about the dead body Marsha finds when she arrives home?

4. Why does VJ let his father out of imprisonment?

5. How do VJ and Victor interact, when they go to VJ's lab in Chapter 13?

6. What happens to Victor when he's searching the clock tower?

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

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

9. What are Victor's feelings about Marsha's attitude toward what they discover about VJ?

10. What does Marsha learn about David and VJ's relationship before David died?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss power in the novel.

1) What gives a person power in the novel? How does money affect power? How does technology affect power? How does emotion affect power?

2) How does VJ get what he wants during the novel? What methods of getting what he wants, like cooperation, does VJ reject? Why?

3) What is the relationship between Victor and VJ? Who has power in the relationship, and at what times? How does Victor defeat VJ?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the settings of the novel.

1) Discuss the setting of the Chimera compound. How does the size of the compound affect the story? How does the security of the compound affect the story?

2) Discuss the setting of the clock tower and river. What do the clock tower and river add to the tone and mood of the story? How do they help the plot of the story to develop?

3) How do the time the novel is set in and the time period the novel was written in affect it? Will the novel continue to be relevant as time passes?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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