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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 noun does O'Connell use to describe the unrelenting nature of the modern version of the apocalypse?

2. In Texas alone, there are how many purveyors of luxury apocalyptic dwellings?

3. What is the last name of the man named James Wesley who founded a movement called American Redoubt?

4. What is NOT a quality O'Connell attributes to the old man he saw dancing while stopped at a red light in Glendale?

5. O'Connell concludes in Chapter 2: Preparations that rather than preparing for their fears, doomsday preppers are preparing for their what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is James Wesley Rawles?

2. What element of life does O'Connell call "the last remaining truth" (4) and why?

3. What sight does O'Connell describe seeing in Glendale and what significance does he find in the sight?

4. Discuss an instance of irony within the text.

5. For what reason does O'Connell allude to a television show called Mars in Chapter 5: Off-World Colony?

6. What is Mount Eden?

7. What does the video of the emaciated polar bear symbolize according to O'Connell?

8. What main theme do all of the pieces within Notes from an Apocalypse revolve?

9. To what location did O'Connell travel around the time when nuclear tensions were rising between the United States and North Korea?

10. To what location did O'Connell travel one November, as described in Chapter 4: Bolt-Hole?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine O'Connell’s use of characterization methods to portray real people, such as his wife. What effect do these characterization methods have on the work's inherent themes and messages?

Essay Topic 2

What is one of O'Connell's central messages regarding a shift in worldview that needs to occur for a particular group of people and why?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the significance of the final passages included at the end of Notes From an Apocalypse.

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