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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 happened to the one teacher who took a special interest in VJ?

2. What does VJ say that he needs, which drove him into his own secret space?

3. Where is Victor when he regains consciousness?

4. What does VJ say he's discovered?

5. Who does VJ leave the house with at the beginning of Chapter 13?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Victor and Marsha decide about VJ?

2. What does Victor ask the IT staff to do for him, regarding the files that have been found missing?

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

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

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

6. What does Victor think about as he drives to work at the beginning of Chapter 9?

7. What does Marsha learn about Richie Blakemore?

8. How does Victor react when he begins to wonder whether Marsha may be right?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

In the novel, appearance often runs counter to reality. Discuss appearance versus reality in the novel.

1) What does the author accomplish by writing about a villain who is a ten-year-old boy? How does it affect the tone of the novel and its emotional impact on the reader?

2) When, in the novel, are appearances different from reality? When do outward appearances reflect reality? Compare and contrast these two types of situations.

3) In the novel, how is truth discerned from false appearances? How difficult or easy is it to uncover the truth?

(see the answer keys)

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