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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 is the law of faith?

2. What is one thing the Advaita Vendanta teach?

3. What happens to a student at Oberlin despite prayers?

4. What does Ruth say that gets Dan's attention as he is leaving the juice stand?

5. What is it that Ruth suggest Dan needs in this situation?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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. What do you think about what Mama Chia says about suffering?

8. Why do you think Sachi asks her little brother to tell her about God?

9. How does Ruth respond to Dan's appearance at the party and what do you think this foreshadows?

10. For what is Dan searching in India and why does he choose India?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dan writes that every day one must choose to master the energy of life or squander it. Discuss the following:

What do you think Dan means by the above statement? Give examples from the text and your own life if applicable.

Analyze and discuss several times in the text when you think Dan squanders the energy of life.

Analyze and discuss several times in the text when you think Dan masters the energy of life.

Essay Topic 2

Mama Chia leads Dan to a village of people suffering from leprosy. Discuss the following:

What is Dan's initial reaction to his "assignment" from Mama Chia? Why?

How and why does Dan's attitude eventually change? Does the change seem sincere?

What do you think is the purpose of this situation in which Mama Chia places Dan?

How do you think you would handle a similar situation?

Essay Topic 3

Dan encounters "Beer Belly" (Kimo) and they become friends. Discuss the following:

What are the ways Dan makes it possible for the encounter with Kimo to turn out in a positive way?

What might Dan have done that could have made the encounter conclude with a less-than-desirable end?

What do you think Dan learns from Kimo?

What do you think Kimo learns from Dan?

(see the answer keys)

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