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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 is the publicity representative of the Jaunte Schools?

2. What is Foyle's nickname on the cerebral ward?

3. Where is Robin Wednesbury's apartment located?

4. Who is Robin Wednesbury?

5. What are the names of the three girls who appear before Foyle in Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is so significant about Jaunte's first jaunte?

2. What is the relationship between Presteign and Dagenham?

3. What are some of the negative aspects and results of jaunting?

4. Describe Foyle's existence as he is trapped on board the Nomad.

5. Why does Y'ang-Yeovil want custody of Foyle after Foyle's attempt to destroy the Vorga?

6. What procedure do the Scientific People perform on Foyle that makes him like them?

7. What is the truth about Foyle and Jiz's escape from the Gouffre Martel?

8. What happens to Foyle when he gets emotional or angry, and what does Jiz tell him to do about it?

9. Why is Gully Foyle considered the stereotypical common man?

10. Describe Robin Wednesbury and her job, as introduced in Chapter 3.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Early in the book, Foyle, who is stranded on board the spaceship Nomad, manages to escape the ship after being bypassed (he thinks) by the crew of the Vorga. He finds himself among the Scientific People. The Scientific People tattoo him with tiger-like markings and with the name, Nomad, across his forehead. Discuss how those markings are an externalization of his internal crisis, his drive for revenge on the Vorga, and the significance of the name Nomad apart from it being the name of his spaceship. What is Foyle's chief motivation for his actions while with the Scientific People?

Essay Topic 2

PyrE is what Alfred Hitchcock used to call the "McGuffin," that one item in a story that all the characters seek, and upon which much of the plot pivots. While PryE is on its surface an explosive, it is, in the context of the novel, much more. Discuss the symbolic nature of PyrE, what it might represent on an allegorical level, and the significance of how it is detonated by the thought and the will. Consider both the thought and the will as characters in the book, and the role these abstract notions play.

Essay Topic 3

In the last chapter of the book, Bester attempts something close to transcendence. The reader is faced with the questions: What does all this mean? What ultimately happened to Foyle? What will potentially happen to mankind? Is Foyle the "messiah? Answer these questions in detail, with the understanding that your answers are very subjective.

(see the answer keys)

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