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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 Lauren decide to call her belief system?

2. In Lauren's dream, what does she do when her stepmother isn't watching?

3. What does Keith bring back for Cory?

4. What does the group, searching in the hills, find in the tree branches?

5. What is water become more expensive than?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Cory accuse her husband of after Keith runs away?

2. Why doesn't Bankole want to bury the bones initially?

3. What does Lauren think happens if Olivar succeeds?

4. What is the one paradox in Lauren's philosophy?

5. What are Olivar's problems before the company takes it over?

6. What happens to Reverend Olamina's original church?

7. Why doesn't Zahra and Lauren like each other back in the neighborhood?

8. Why doesn't Harry want to stay and build a community with the group?

9. What are the findings of the Anglo-Japanese Cosmological Station?

10. What "family business" does Lauren's father believe in keeping private?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Violence is presented almost neutrally in this novel. Sometimes it is very stark and cruel and other times it seems as a necessary means to an end. Describe two examples of each view of violence; as a senseless tragedy or as necessary for progress. Explain whether or not you think that the violence perpetrated by Lauren and her group is necessary.

Essay Topic 2

Lauren says early in the novel that God might just be whatever it is that makes you feel "special and protected". She outlines various different ways people conceptualize God. For each of the following ideas of God, cite examples from the text that show people believing in this type of Deity, and explain how this belief influences the character's actions:

a. God as a "super person"--Big Daddy, Cop, King, etc.

b. God as a punisher.

c. God as Nature.

d. God as a spirit/a force/ the ultimate reality.

Essay Topic 3

Although Cory knows what awaits her son outside the walls of Robledo, she approves of him leaving the community. Why do you think she does this? Describe the relationships she has with each of her children, her stepdaughter, and her husband. What do these relationships reveal about her character?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 655 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample