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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 does Umberto Christofoto Palanguez bring to the Arctic & European Fish Oil Company?

2. What does Beadley think of Bill in relation to triffids?

3. How does the narrator follow the event?

4. Where do Bill and Josella agree the light in the night came from?

5. How does Bill believe the triffids came to be?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the argument of Beadley that the world is better off after the comet than it was before.

2. What is happening to society at the beginning of Chapter Four, and why?

3. Explain Bill's response to the argument at the gate between the sighted and the blind.

4. Explain why Bill decides to go to London at the beginning of Chapter Three?

5. Explain how the seeds of the triffid came to spread across the world, according to the story by Bill of Umberto Palanguez.

6. What clues does the narrator have that there is something wrong when he wakes in the hospital?

7. Explain why the Colonel and the others want to leave London?

8. What are the potential uses of satellites, according to Bill?

9. Explain why Bill feels a sense of relief at his new situation?

10. Describe why Bill finds it difficult at first to break the law, even for food.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Light is used as a metaphor for hope, freedom, and security throughout the novel. In what ways does the author use this metaphor? How does he show what this symbol stands for? Choose one instance of the use of light as a symbol. Explain the situation. What are the characters doing? How is the symbol used? What is light symbolizing? Why did the author choose light as this symbol?

Essay Topic 3

The role of women drastically changes in the novel from pre-crisis to immediately following the crisis to long term. Explain this shift in roles. What were women prior to the event? How did that role change immediately following the comet? How did this again change when viewing long term goals of society? What is the new primary function of women in the new society? Does this differ greatly from the view of women prior to the catastrophe? In what way? Do you believe women could easily shift roles this way in reality? Why or why not?

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