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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. Compared to what the company can produce, what can be said about the demon's technology?

2. What did Kin do that contributed to her being arrested by the locals?

3. What does Kin take with her from her hiding place?

4. Why does Kin think that the Company would never build a planet like the flat Earth?

5. What is done with Kin after her captors change their minds?

Short Essay Questions

1. Whom do Kin and the others meet in the desert? What is the result of this meeting?

2. What causes the brawl in the Great Hall?

3. What is the group being followed by, and how is it unusual?

4. How is the dumbwaiter destroyed?

5. What does the group discover at the ship's crash-site?

6. Where does the Djinnee come from, and what does he do?

7. How are the explorers greeted when they reach the sailors' homeland?

8. How does Kin escape after the man whom she and the others meet in the desert turns on them?

9. How does the group confirm that they are being followed?

10. How do Kin's feelings about the Company begin to change soon after the dumbwaiter is destroyed?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Forgiveness plays a role in the story alongside vengeance. However, with the culture clash between the locals and the explorers, and the brutal nature of the planet, it is difficult for forgiveness to overcome vengeance.

Part 1) Explain some examples of forgiveness being extended in the story. How does this act affect the progression of the story, and what would be the consequences had it not been given?

Part 2) Describe some examples where an act of forgiveness would have benefited the characters. Why was this course of action not taken? How would the story be different if it had been taken?

Part 3) Explain some situations in which the desire for revenge won out over forgiveness. Why did this occur? What could have happened differently to cause these various characters to forgive?

Essay Topic 2

Arthur C. Clarke once said that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Technology plays an important part in driving the story, and it affects many situations and characters. The technology that Kin and the others possess is miraculous to the inhabitants of the flat planet. In turn, the technology that runs the planet is miraculous to Kin and the others.

Part 1) Explain the significance of Clarke's quotation about technology to this story. Does the author seem to be aware of this concept? How does that awareness affect the setting?

Part 2) In what major ways does technology play a role in the story? How would these elements of the story be impossible without this highly advanced technology?

Part 3) How does the technology that Kin and the others possess appear to the inhabitants of the flat planet, and how do they react to it?

Part 4) How does the technology that runs the flat planet appear to Kin and the others? How do they react to it, and how does it affect them?

Essay Topic 3

After they crash on the flat planet, Kin and the others interact with its inhabitants in many places and in many different ways. These people, as rough analogues of real historical cultures, serve to illustrate various points that the author wishes to make about those civilizations.

Part 1) Describe the first meeting between the inhabitants of the flat planet and Kin and her companions. What are the results of this exchange? What impression do Kin and the other take away from this experience?

Part 2) Explain the other interactions the explorers have with the locals. How do these compare with their first interactions? Explain ways that the explorer's perceptions of the locals change as a result of later encounters.

Part 3) What impact do the explorers have on the local populations? Explain both immediate and long lasting effects.

(see the answer keys)

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