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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 an accurate description of Jason?

2. What does Tyler hope he does not lose?

3. Who does not know about the effects of Spin?

4. What month is it at the beginning of "The Big House" Chapter?

5. What is disastrous about the party?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Tyler and Ina talk about and what does Ina say?

2. How will ecopoiesis work on Mars?

3. What incident does Tyler recall and what theme does this incident reveal?

4. How does Tyler seem to continue in his mother's "footsteps"?

5. What is the first "casualty" of the event that comes to be known as "Spin" and what is one consequence of this casualty?

6. How is Tyler doing with the medicine he has injected and why do you think he is taking the medicine when it has such terrible side effects?

7. Briefly describe the different paths the three friends, Diane, Jason, and Tyler choose as adults and after the coming of Spin.

8. What does Jason reveal about Perihelion's plans for Mars and why might this be significant?

9. Why is the one Russian cosmonaut that makes it back to Earth alive after Spin considered crazy?

10. How does Tyler feel and what does he do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The term "teraforming" is quite common in the genre of science fiction, including Spin. Discuss the following:

What is a general definition for teraforming as found in your research? Does the definition fit the way teraforming is used in Spin?

How does teraforming appear in Spin? Explain giving examples.

Does the concept of teraforming seem far fetched in "real" life? Why or why not?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of teraforming?

Is there any possibility that Earth was actually teraformed by advanced beings? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Characters are an important element of most stories. Discuss one of the following:

Compare and contrast Jason to Tyler.

Compare and contrast Jason to Diane.

Compare and contrast Jason to E. D.

Essay Topic 3

Manipulation occurs on both a small scale, i.e., one person to another and on a grand scale, i.e., thousands being manipulated by a small cadre of powerful people. Discuss one the following:

Discuss a "small-scale" manipulation, i.e., how one character manipulates another character. Give specific examples and analyze motives.

Discuss a "large-scale" manipulation, i.e., how a one person or a small group of persons manipulates hundreds/thousands/millions of others . Give specific examples and analyze motives.

Compare and contrast a "real" life example of large-scale manipulation to an example of it in Spin.

(see the answer keys)

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