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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. Who does Simon finally talk to on the phone?

2. Who greets Diane and Tyler at the door to the Lawton's house?

3. What does Tyler do?

4. Why does Simon say Tyler cannot come for Diane?

5. Why does Jason want Tyler to inject him with the Martian drug?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Tyler wonder about Diane and how does she respond?

2. What is in the envelope Tyler received after from Jason after he died? Why did Jason leave him the envelope?

3. What does Jason tell Tyler about the Martian ambassador, conditions on Mars and why he was sent?

4. What does Jason report to Tyler about the replicators a few years after they were launched?

5. What does Simon say about his conflict between Diane and his beliefs?

6. As Tyler, Diane and others are waiting to leave what happens?

7. Why is Jason dying?

8. What happens in the summer with the sky and why does Simon call Tyler? How does Tyler respond?

9. What happens shortly after the Spin membrane is gone?

10. How does Tyler and Diane escape from Condon's ranch?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Chapter one opens in the present but then flashes back to the past. This technique is done with a literary device called a flashback. There are a number of literary devices in this novel. Discuss one of the following:

Define "flashback" and give examples of it in the novel. What is the purpose of a flashback? How effective is the use of flashbacks in this story? What is a weakness of using flashbacks? Why do you think the author choices to use flashbacks in this story so often? Would this story be very different if told completely in chronological order? Why or why not? How would it change the plot?

Define metaphor and give examples of it in the novel. What is the purpose of a metaphor? How effective is the use of metaphors in this story? What is a weakness of using metaphors? Would this story be very different if there were no metaphors? Why or why not? How would it change the plot?

Choose one literary device that occurs in Spin and answer the following questions:

What is the purpose of the literary device? How effective is the use of the literary device in this story? What is a weakness of using this literary device? Would this story be very different if there were no occurrences of this literary device? Why or why not? How would it change the plot?

Essay Topic 3

When Spin first appears, the Chinese decide to "nuke" the structures at the two poles which seem to hold the membrane in place. Discuss the following:

Often, when something is not understood, it is attacked. There are other examples of this throughout Spin. Give some examples and analyze those examples to explain why you think the people behave as they do in Spin.

Enumerate and analyze examples of how the principle of attacking that which we do not understand happens in the "real" world.

Create a different model for dealing with that which is new and alien to a culture or one's individual way of life. Show how you might use your plan in specific instances in the book and/or "real" life.

(see the answer keys)

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