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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. On what ship had Evie’s uncle served?

2. Where was Wen Lai born?

3. How many poets’ work is Rafi expected to treat in his master’s thesis?

4. How many feet below the ocean surface is the Tektite II?

5. Which of the following does Rafi quote to Todd?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Ina’s master’s project in art?

2. To what does the Queen ascribe Evie’s ability to dance?

3. What is the initial reaction to the investors offering a trial artificial intelligence to Makatea?

4. What dangers confront Evie as she dives for her war-operation assignment?

5. Why does Evie not explore her true romantic impulses?

6. What is done with the remains of Todd’s father?

7. How does Bart occupy himself while Evie is away on research before completing her dissertation?

8. Why does Rafi take a college course in European Literary Modernism while still in high school?

9. What is Todd’s company slogan (301)?

10. What does Todd note about eggplant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is to be made of Rafi’s predilection for reading medievalist and fantasy works? Why is that the conclusion to draw about it? What in the text supports the idea, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Sources attest to the presence of Playground on best-seller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the novel? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

How reliable is the narrator of the first-person sections of the novel? What in the text indicates that reliability, and how does it do so?

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