View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is the drug from that Tyler uses?

2. What happened to Tyler's Mom?

3. What do the Chinese missiles hit?

4. How are Jason's symptoms?

5. What does Ina tell En?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why does Jason hire Tyler to care for him?

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

5. Why did the NK religion end?

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

7. What is the definition of ecopoiesis?

8. What similarity is there between what is happening with Tyler and Diane in the present and what is happening between Jason and Tyler in the past?

9. One might be a piece of foreshadowing in this chapter?

10. Both Jason and Tyler wonder what the Hypotheticals (the name given to the fictional Alien race possibly responsible for the Spin) aimed to accomplish with the Spin. What do you think may be accomplished?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tyler is writing a record of his past, which could be called a journal, memoir or autobiography. Discuss the following:

What is a journal? Is it the same as a memoir or autobiography? Why or why not.

What is gained by framing this story in the format of a memoir? What is lost by doing so?

Although Spin is a work of fiction, the author would have the readers "suspend their disbelief" and view it as an actual memoir describing actual events. If the reader were to assume the events described in Tyler's writings were actually true, how do you think the point of view of the narrator would bias the account?

Essay Topic 2

Scientists believe Spin is artificially created by a technologically superior Alien race. Discuss the following:

What are some of the reasons people believe Spin has occurred? How many of those reasons seem possible? Why?

Is it "right" for an alien species to make the decision to create Spin without first consulting the governments of Earth? Why or why not?

Do you think it is more comforting to believe Spin is a natural phenomenon, a technological phenomenon, or an act of God? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,043 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample