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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 Margo do to discover what Greg was doing in the burned out warehouse?

2. What is the FBI agent on duty in the Armory Division reading?

3. What does Margo find in the puddle-like areas on the floor of the burned out warehouse?

4. What does Donovan tell Snow not to shoot?

5. What does the survivor of the subway massacre say about the attackers' features?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Pendergast make a second trip into the tunnels?

2. What purpose might hallucinogenic mushrooms serve in the ceremony that Kawakita established?

3. Do you think Waxie was too hasty in naming Jeffery as the serial killer? What reason might Waxie have for such a hasty conclusion?

4. What do you think are Pendergast's true intentions in bringing Mephisto along on the mission to the Crystal Palace?

5. Why are the police so eager to get the matter concluded hastily without taking the time to analyze all possibilities first?

6. What starts the riots during the Take Back Our City March? Is this the fault of Mrs. Wisher, the police, or the homeless? Cite examples to support your argument.

7. How does Margo plan to figure out what Greg had been doing in his warehouse laboratory?

8. Why might the huge amount of firepower carried by D'Agosta, Pendergast, and Mephisto be ineffective against the creatures?

9. What are the side effects of "glaze"? What might such side effects do to a person's psyche?

10. What does Pendergast find in the Crystal Pavilion that causes him alarm? Why do you think these things scare him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Review the symbolism involved in the hut of skulls. What does this represent to the Wrinklers? What does it represent to outsiders? What does it represent to the shaman? How does the hut play into the Wrinklers' ceremony? Cite examples from the text to support your explanation.

Essay Topic 2

The author incorporates extensive use of similes and metaphors to "illustrate" this novel. For example, he states that, "The Reservoir itself was a sheet of beaten gold in the sunset." Can you think of any other examples cited in the text? What does the use of similes and metaphors add to the story?

Essay Topic 3

Review Margo's theory of infection and how the reovirus affects its host once ingested. What seems plausible about her theory, as it applies to Mbwun and the characters like it? What seems implausible? Can you think of an alternate theory?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 870 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample