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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 kind of juice do Ruth and Dan have to drink when they first meet?

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

3. How does Millman finally decide to contact the woman whom Socrates mentioned?

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

5. What cure does Ruth prescribe for Dan?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Dan do while in India?

3. What is the phrase that Ruth uses that catches Dan's attention and how would you characterize their encounter?

4. How has Mama Chia been healing Dan and what do you think of her method?

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

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

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

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

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

10. Describe Dan's experience in his dreamlike state in chapter 7 and his reaction to the dream.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Dan has a stopover in Hawaii, he decides to search for a woman about whom Socrates told him. Discuss the following:

How likely is it that Dan will find the woman for whom he is searching in a city of several hundred thousand (at that time)people? Do you think the fact that he finds her is miraculous or coincidental?

Dan might say his finding Ruth Johnson is not coincidental but rather serendipitous or perhaps meant to be. Discuss this idea.

What does it say about Dan or Dan's situation that he even attempts such a daunting task as finding a woman whose name, age, place of work or home is unknown in a city the size of Honolulu?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Dan Millman decides to go to India in search of some sort of spiritual enlightenment. Discuss the following:

Why does Millman think he needs to go to India?

Why do you think many Westerners go to places such as India and Tibet in search of spiritual enlightenment?

Do you think Dan could have found what he needed where he lives in Ohio?

(see the answer keys)

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