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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 Tyler use as a means of saying nothing about Jason's condition?

2. What is the relation of time between inside and outside of Spin?

3. What does Tyler send Diane?

4. What is Tyler doing as he hides in the hotel?

5. Where is the drug from that Tyler uses?

Short Essay Questions

1. Define the literary term flashback and give an example of its use in this novel.

2. Why do you think many people, not just in this novel, but in real life, tend to turn to religion in a severe crisis?

3. Simon is the person Diane seems to have chosen for her lover at this time in her life and yet Jason thinks Simon is the least possible good for Diane. What do you think Jason means by this?

4. What is the definition of ecopoiesis?

5. Why do all the rockets sent to Mars need to reach the membrane simultaneously?

6. What is a consequence of the time difference inside and outside of Spin?

7. Why did the NK religion end?

8. What is one theme that first appears in this chapter?

9. Why does Diane leave Tyler in the hotel room?

10. Why does E. D. know about the attributes of Spin and why does he reveal this information to Jason?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When the time relationship of life in Spin become known, it is obvious that most young people will not attain an elderly age. People respond differently to the knowledge that their planet will become uninhabitable in their lifetimes. Discuss the following:

Discuss some of the ways characters in the book respond to the idea of a shortened life span.

One can choose to face certain death in a courageous fashion or cowering in fear and denial. Discuss several characters and how they face their deaths, whether because of the end of the world or from some other reason such as illness.

What would you choose to do with your life if you knew that it would end prematurely?

Essay Topic 2

Science fiction, though fiction, has a marvelous way of sometimes heralding the future. Much of what was written as "science fiction" in the 1940s and 1950s is now reality. Discuss the following:

What in Spin do you think could become a reality in the future? Why?

Do you think human beings create a future reality by envisioning it in the present? Why or why not?

If humans do indeed create reality in the future by envisioning it in the present, what sort of responsibility does that suggest for present "creators"? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Religious cults exist in this story and in "real" life. Discuss one of the following:

How does the appearance of Spin affect conventional and non-conventional religious institutions?

Is joining a religious cult a healthy or unhealthy way of dealing with Spin? Explain fully with examples.

Compare and contrast how a cult in this story is similar to a cult that has existed in "real" life.

(see the answer keys)

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