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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 falls from Umberto's plane?
2. Where does Bill go in the beginning of Chapter Three?
3. How does Bill know so much of the triffids?
4. What is the name of the hospital in which the narrator is residing?
5. What does the narrator note occurred on May 7th?
Short Essay Questions
1. Describe the argument between the sighted leader of the blind at the gates of University Tower and the sighted leaders of the sighted colony at the university.
2. Describe why Bill finds it difficult at first to break the law, even for food.
3. Why does Bill not kill the man holding Josella captive?
4. Describe the walking style of a triffid.
5. Give a brief explanation of the various speculations pertaining to the coming of the triffids.
6. Describe the scene where the narrator first learns of the blindness that plagues mankind.
7. What clues does the narrator have that there is something wrong when he wakes in the hospital?
8. Explain what the landlord at the end of chapter 1 plans on doing, and how.
9. Explain the irony of the blind man Bill finds in Chapter Three, who was blind before the comet.
10. Explain the difference between Josella's view of triffids and Bill's. Why are they do drastically different?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
The Day of The Triffids was written in 1951, after WWII. Do you think WWII had an influence on the themes in the novel? Why or why not? If so, what themes are present in the novel that lead you to believe so? If not, why do you think, then, that Wyndham references America as a saving country and the date the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (pg. 95)? Do you think there are threads of communism, socialism, the Cold War, and other WWII themes in the novel? How are those themes represented in the novel?
Essay Topic 2
Throughout the novel, the narrator is forced to deal with figures in authority and to choose whether to believe what they say or not. Authority figures in the novel range from radio announcers to people in authoritative positions, such as the Colonel and Coker, and those who wish power over anything else, such as the Commander. Choose one situation in which Bill is forced to choose between following authority and ignoring authority. Explain the situation. What does this say about Bill's willingness to think for himself? About his willingness to blindly follow authority figures? Why is this important? In terms of authority in the novel, what is the author suggesting about military authority? How are these suggestions brought forth (i.e., which characters represent military authority). What does this say about Wyndham's own view of military authority?
Essay Topic 3
What is the function of the triffid in the novel? How does the author seem to imply the triffid was created? What does this symbolize in terms of the culture of Wyndham's time? What was he trying to say about biological tampering and the creation of government-born viruses and mutations? Why was this a point at the time the novel was written? Be sure to include details from the book to explain your answers and to justify your arguments.
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This section contains 1,073 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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