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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. Where is Mrs. Wisher's candlelight vigil taking place?

2. What happened to Jumbo, P.T. Barnum's elephant?

3. What power does the shaman believe he harnessed from the lilies?

4. What is the name of the city engineer with whom Pendergast consults?

5. What is the purpose of the moles' banging on the pipes?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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.

2. One of the subway passengers chooses suicide over being at the mercy of his attackers. What does this indicate to you about the attackers?

3. What do Margo's lab findings on the reovirus seem to indicate? How do these findings translate to the infection of humans?

4. What is the overwhelming feeling you get from the unnamed character in Chapter 34? Does he seem like every megalomaniac created in literature, or is there something different about him?

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

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

7. What does Smithback view that leads him to believe his ambition might have finally taken him too far? Do you think his fear is because he feels his mortality or because he has seen the mortality of others?

8. What purpose does the scene with the Navy SEALs have?

9. Of what is the subway massacre the first definitive indication? What does this mean to the investigation?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Here there be monsters." Given the context of this statement, humans feared the unknown and unknowable since the beginning of time. Other than the obvious, how does this quote apply to this book. Look beyond the Wrinklers and cite examples from the text to support your explanation.

Essay Topic 2

Though Dr. Brambell and Dr. Frock disagree often, they do agree on one thing: the skeletons show obvious signs of teeth marks. Compare/contrast their first theories on the teeth marks in the bone, how they got there, and what type of animal might have left them. What do you think is the true source of their contention?

Essay Topic 3

Mrs. Wisher is distraught at the brutal murder of her daughter. She feels frustrated by the lack of information coming out of One Police Center, feeling that she should give the benefit of the doubt with the details of her daughter's death. What steps does Mrs. Wisher take to counteract this feeling of helplessness, and how do her actions affect the storyline ?

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This section contains 934 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample