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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Mama Chia see as hidden gifts?
(a) Painful physical challenges she suffers as a child.
(b) The unconscious.
(c) Death and rebirth.
(d) The way human beings do not believe in their deaths.

2. When does Mama Chia resume her work as midwife and kahuna?
(a) When she becomes gravely ill.
(b) When she wants to reach a higher plane of ascension.
(c) When she retires.
(d) After receiving a letter from Socrates about Dan.

3. What is the board like that Dan finds?
(a) He cannot find a board.
(b) A dented, fiberglass board that is slightly too short for his frame.
(c) A new slick, fiberglass board.
(d) Like the ones the old Hawaiians used.

4. What strikes Millman by its grandeur?
(a) The Ganges River.
(b) The Purarimjes.
(c) The Himalayas.
(d) The Taj Mahal.

5. At some point, what would Dan have traded for some water?
(a) Enlightenment.
(b) His wife and daughter.
(c) His life.
(d) All his money.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the author do for a job right after graduation?

2. Why does Dan have to rest?

3. What schools does Millman attend regularly?

4. According to Socrates, how is charity most effective?

5. Simply put, what are Dan's instructions when he gets to Makapuu Beach?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Dan realize he must do at this time in his life?

2. Dan falls asleep, which could be what is called in literary terms, a "narrative contrivance." What do you think that means in context of this story and Dan falling asleep?

3. Dan imagines all sorts of monsters floating beneath his surfboard; what might this metaphorically represent?

4. Did you think it is smart of Dan to just mount a surfboard and go out from shore having no experience with this kind of activity?

5. Dan remembers that Ruth wrote that the experience he is on is a question of "trust and faith." Do you believe this is true?

6. Dan says he would trade enlightenment for one glass of "pure, cool, quenching water." What do you think this says about the human condition?

7. Why is Dan depressed on his honeymoon?

8. What does Dan do while in India?

9. Why does Dan decide to stop over in Hawaii and what do you think is the reason for his layover?

10. Chapter four opens with what quote and what do you think it means?

(see the answer keys)

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