View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What has happened at the outset of the novel?
(a) news media reports a pending nuclear war
(b) the USS Scorpion is lost at sea
(c) the people of Melbourne, Australia, hold car races
(d) nuclear destruction of the Northern hemisphere

2. Where does Peter have an appointment?
(a) at the Navy Department in Melbourne
(b) on the USS Scorpion
(c) with the Mayor of Melbourne
(d) at the Naval Hospital

3. Why does Osbourne say that perhaps people did not deserve the world?
(a) we have been too silly
(b) we deserve something better
(c) the animals have more sense
(d) the world has too much to offer

4. What have Peter and Mary learned to do because of the shortages?
(a) weave cloth
(b) raise chickens for eggs
(c) make their own butter
(d) knit socks

5. What does Osbourne say about the world?
(a) it will go on, there just won't be people
(b) it will become a vast desert planet like Mars
(c) it will collapse from carbon pollutions
(d) it will disintegrate slowly

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Dwight think forty percent of his crew will not return to the Scorpion?

2. How does Dwight react to the country?

3. What will happen when the radiation covers the Southern hemisphere?

4. What does Dwight tell Moira about a submarine scouting trip up the east coast of America?

5. What is the only sign of life at Queensland?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Moira learn about Dwight while touring the submarine?

2. What does John Osbourne estimate was the size of the nuclear war that was fought?

3. What is the problem with Moira's ability to understand what has happened in the world?

4. How do some people hold the hope that one day humans will again populate the Earth?

5. How does Shute explain the proliferation of atomic weapons?

6. Describe Moira's attitude toward life.

7. Explain Moira's answer that she will face the facts of life next September.

8. What is notable about Mary's plans for her garden?

9. Explain why Peter, a navy lieutenant-commander, has not worked for the past seven months.

10. What is of special interest about the radio signals coming from around Seattle?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 626 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample