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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 did Richard fantasize his bed on the train was?

2. What didn't Richard buy?

3. What is Richard's record?

4. Who did Richard share a cigarette with?

5. What did this person toss to the main character?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was different between the beach and the world and how did it make Richard feel?

2. What was the problem with the rucksacks and how was it solved?

3. What was the cue for Richard to call it a night?

4. What had guaranteed that Richard would get batteries, and how had it come to pass?

5. What made the map intricate?

6. What game did the three people play as they swum out to sea? How did Richard feel about the game?

7. What did Francoise and Etienne fear when they had seen Richard chatting with the Americans? Why was this?

8. What had made Jed's day bad?

9. What did Etienne notice about the dope that they had found on the island?

10. How was it that Sal was the leader?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Attempt to explain Sal's lying for Richard. What might she have hoped to gain in her lie? What is revealed about her in the following chapters, Karl runs away? How might this tie into Sal covering for Richard?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the beach and its descent from Paradise to Hell. What other descents are made throughout the book? Could these be considered some of the central themes of the book? How or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss whether or not living in paradise for any length of time would taint the way a person would perceive paradise. Explain your answer citing the book, and explain the contradiction in Richard's arrival in Koh Phangan and his return to England.

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This section contains 938 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample