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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 offer does Dagenham make Foyle in return for information on the Nomad?

2. What is a Saturn Weekender?

3. What is the Whisper Line?

4. What did the accident at Tycho Sands do to Saul Dagenham?

5. How old does Jiz tell Gully she is?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How did the Scientific People come to be?

3. What keeps Foyle from divulging information about the whereabouts of the Nomad when he is questioned at the Nightmare Theater?

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

5. What motivates Foyle to save himself at the close of Chapter 1?

6. Describe the steps Foyle takes in activating the Nomad's engines.

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

8. Describe Foyle and Jiz's escape from the prison.

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

10. What is the relationship between Presteign and Dagenham?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This particular novel was originally titled "Tiger! Tiger!" Discuss the appropriateness of that original title, and why perhaps the title was changed to the more poetic "The Stars My Destination." Discuss which title seems more fitting for the book, based on your overall impressions of the novel, and explain the source of the current title.

Essay Topic 2

Torture occurs several times in The Stars My Destination. Foyle is questioned and tortured in Chapter 4. Discuss how torture, in Foyle's case, is designed to alter an internal reality to generate and external result. Discuss the ironic truth that what drives Foyle also protects him from giving in to torture. Explain how revenge has given Foyle the sense of purpose that was missing in the first chapter.

Essay Topic 3

In the last two chapters of the book, author Bester basically throws convention to the wind and attempts to describe what happens with Foyle in hyperbolic language and graphic representations of what is fundamentally indescribable. Discuss Bester's use of these tools, how effective you felt they were, and share an alternate way of communicating the same truths without using the same conventions Bester did.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 796 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample