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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 does the correspondent take turns doing with the oiler in Part 2?

2. Whose nature is naturally more cynical than the others'?

3. What does the oiler say near the end of Part 1?

4. Who calms the dispute towards the end of Part 1?

5. Who confirms seeing the lighthouse?

Short Essay Questions

1. Throughout their adventure, how does the relationship between the four men change, and why?

2. What is the oiler doing in Part 1?

3. What does the correspondent think as he tries to swim to the captain after escaping the current?

4. After the oiler takes the correspondent's place at the oars in Part 6, what does the captain tell the cook to do, and why?

5. What does the correspondent think would happen in different circumstances as he sees the shark?

6. Why do the men's hopes not sink at the beginning of Part 4?

7. What does the correspondent see when he wakes at the beginning of Part 7?

8. When the captain interrupts the correspondent's reverie, what does he say, and how do the men react?

9. Why do the four men construct a sail, and how?

10. Describe the actions of the man onshore while the four men are swimming toward shore.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the relationship between the four men affect the story's plot?

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of the story that the correspondent recalls about the Legionnaire who died in Algiers? How does this contribute to the book as a whole?

Essay Topic 3

How can Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" be read as an antithesis to Darwinism?

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This section contains 625 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample