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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 do you think is the hardest thing about leaving for Millman?

2. What does Dan find at the end of chapter 4?

3. How does the The Basic Self use pain?

4. Who takes care of Dan when he is recovering from his days at sea?

5. What does Mama Chia think Dan is strong enough to do?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Dan's ultimate conclusion about his time in India?

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

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

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

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

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

8. What does the college give Dan and where does he go?

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

10. Why is Dan depressed on his honeymoon?

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

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 3

Mama Chia's purpose in mentoring Dan seems to be to teach him about the three selves. Discuss one of the following:

What are the three selves. Discuss fully.

Discuss the symbolic representations of the three selves both in the book and in your own experience.

Discuss whether or not you think the idea of three selves has validity as truth.

(see the answer keys)

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