View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is Ruth Johnson?
(a) The young bank teller with whom Millman has dinner.
(b) A lawyer.
(c) An older woman in a muumuu.
(d) A psychiatrist.

2. What happens as Dan contemplates the sky from the surfboard?
(a) He falls asleep.
(b) He wonders about his daughter.
(c) He falls off.
(d) He realizes he has been duped.

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

4. What does the author do for a job right after graduation?
(a) Computer programmer.
(b) Practices law.
(c) Sells insurance.
(d) Sells cars.

5. What are the Basic Self, Conscious Self and Higher Self?
(a) The way to enlightenment.
(b) The three selves.
(c) A way of explaining the relationship between god and humans.
(d) The concept talked about in the secret ways.

Short Answer Questions

1. What returns to Dan as he is healing?

2. What does Ruth tell Dan to do in her note?

3. Why does the author do what he does on his wedding night?

4. What American statesman does Mama Chia quote in chapter 5?

5. Everyone the author looks, what does he see?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

4. What is the irony of Dan's situation out on the vast Pacific Ocean?

5. How does Dan feel about his personal connection to India?

6. What does Dan say about death and how do you think he will overcome his feelings about it?

7. What is the island of Molokai and why is it appropriate that Dan wash up on its shore?

8. Why do you think Mama Chia resumes her work as midwife and kahuna after receiving a letter from Socrates about Dan?

9. Dan tries to stay awake and conscious because he's afraid of what might happen if he falls asleep. Do you think this is symbolic of anything?

10. How does Dan decide to commence his search for the woman of whom Socrates had once told Dan, and do you think that is a logical solution?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,050 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample