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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 does Kelvin say when Snow suggests Kelvin's "god" is mankind?

2. What does Kelvin awake to hear in the middle of the night?

3. What did Kelvin's thesis compare?

4. What does Kelvin do when Snow gives him a drink?

5. When does Snow say that the visitors first appeared?

Short Essay Questions

1. What can't Kelvin find, when he wakes in the morning?

2. Does Snow believe Kelvin when Kelvin says he loves Rheya?

3. Why does Rheya lie to Kelvin about what she did during the night?

4. Why doesn't Kelvin share his doubts about the upcoming experiment with Rheya?

5. Describe the ocean as Kelvin sees it, after leaving the research station for the first time.

6. Why doesn't Kelvin want to open a communications channel to the shuttle he launched?

7. What does Rheya say in her suicide note?

8. Describe a mimoid.

9. What does Rheya want from Kelvin, after she listens to the tape recorder?

10. What metaphor does Kelvin use to describe trying to understand Solaris?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the conflict in the novel Solaris.

1) To what extent is Solaris an antagonist in the novel? In conflicting with Solaris, do the characters struggle against another "person" or against nature, or both?

2) Rheya is a reflection of Kelvin's unconscious mind. To what extent is Kelvin's conflict with himself, as opposed to with an outer force or being?

Essay Topic 2

In the novel Solaris, humanity has searched through the reaches of the galaxy and tried to explain what it has found. By far, the greatest mystery has been Solaris.

1) What reasons do Solarists and humanity in general have for trying to explain and understand Solaris, and the other things found in the galaxy?

2) Does "explaining" Solaris make the ocean into a reflection of humanity and human traits?

3) Are the Solarists looking for something spiritual, beyond the nature of humanity? If so, is it possible for humans to connect with the spiritual, outside of the human realm?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss objective and subjective reality in the novel.

1) How do the characters determine what objective reality is? How do the characters know the nature of Solaris' ocean and the reality of the visitors?

2) Kelvin devises a test to make sure that he's not mad. How good is his test at determining the objective reality? Is it possible for Kelvin to be sure he's detecting an objective truth outside of the subjective experience of his mind?

3) Rheya is created from the subjective memories of Kelvin's mind, not an objective image of the original Rheya. How does this affect Rheya's personality and development?

(see the answer keys)

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