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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. To which of the following does Evie go on her first postgraduate research expedition?

2. How does the novel gloss the term “fenua”?

3. Which of the following does Rafi’s sister call him?

4. How old is Todd when he gets his first computer?

5. What is the first game Todd remembers winning against his father?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Rafi sent to a magnet school?

2. Why is Evie asked about continental drift in her admissions appeal?

3. How does Todd explain his father’s desire to have a child?

4. Why is the title “President of French Polynesia” a lie in the novel?

5. In the novel, what is the primary importance of phosphates?

6. From what do the phosphate deposits on Makatea derive?

7. What motivates Rafi’s father’s insistence on his reading?

8. Why does Ina pray in Tahitian?

9. What does Ina recall about leatherback turtles?

10. Why does Rafi dislike reading the encyclopedias his father gave him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Conversely, given demonstrated efforts toward censorship in a number of countries, what would likely prompt bans of Playground? By which groups? Why?

Essay Topic 2

The novel makes much of colonialist and postcolonialist discourse. Overall, what attitude does the novel display towards colonialism, and how does it show that attitude?

Essay Topic 3

Assuming that Playground should be standard reading for a given class and level, what class and what level? Why that class and why that level? What in the text suggests as much, and how does it do so?

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