View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the Vonnadorians’ understanding of prime numbers allow them to do?
(a) Invent life forms.
(b) Colonize other planets.
(c) Inhabit other worlds.
(d) Time travel.

2. Why does the narrator want to replace the purple sofa?
(a) The fabric smells funny.
(b) The cushions are too soft.
(c) The purple color is painful to him.
(d) The texture reminds of him of Daniel Russell’s skin.

3. What does the narrator take comfort in, after Gulliver beats him?
(a) Isobel’s caretaking.
(b) His pain.
(c) Gulliver’s apology.
(d) His passivity.

4. What does the narrator hold onto, in the ambulance, when he lets go of everything else in the world?
(a) Isobel’s hand.
(b) Newton’s leash.
(c) Gulliver’s guitar pick.
(d) His gifts.

5. How does the narrator dispose of the replacement’s body?
(a) He takes it outside.
(b) He buries it.
(c) He dissolves it in water.
(d) He cuts it up and puts it down the sink.

6. What is it that the narrator appreciates about Isobel, as she tends his wounds?
(a) Her smell.
(b) Her soft voice.
(c) Her nose.
(d) Her hair.

7. What part of the night sky does the narrator say affects humans?
(a) The brightness of the stars.
(b) Its darkness.
(c) Its lifelessness.
(d) Its orderliness.

8. What does Ari compare prime numbers to?
(a) Harpies.
(b) Centaurs.
(c) Cyclops.
(d) Sirens.

9. How does the narrator try to blunt the replacement’s power?
(a) By turning the TV on.
(b) By taking him outside.
(c) By sitting him on the purple couch.
(d) By cutting his left hand off.

10. What is the facet of prime numbers that makes them consoling to the narrator?
(a) Their indivisibility.
(b) Their adaptability.
(c) Their importance in crucial formulae.
(d) Their mutability.

11. Where does the narrator say Isobel is inviting him when she invites him upstairs?
(a) To the alternate reality of sex.
(b) To a box of dark memories.
(c) To a series of hard conversations.
(d) To an envelope full of bills and responsibilities.

12. What reason does the narrator provide for why humans love?
(a) Because they are thwarted.
(b) Because they are mortal.
(c) Because they are minor deities.
(d) Because they are overflowing.

13. Why does the replacement say humans need to be limited in their technology?
(a) If they see the splendor of mathematics, they will lose their minds.
(b) If they learn how to communicate, they will sow divisions in Vonnadorian society.
(c) If they ever get off the planet, they will not be friendly.
(d) If they understand the power of mathematics, they will use it to enrich themselves.

14. What does the narrator say when Isobel describes the early days of her courtship with Andrew Martin?
(a) That was a lifetime ago.
(b) Those people are dead, now.
(c) I really loved you then.
(d) He must have loved you.

15. What does the narrator say opened in him as he left Andrew Martin’s house?
(a) A blind spot.
(b) The eye of God.
(c) A blank spot.
(d) A black hole.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the narrator convince Gulliver to trust him and to kill the replacement?

2. How does the replacement try to get Gulliver to kill himself?

3. What does the narrator say he found terrifying about making love with Maggie?

4. How does the narrator destroy the replacement’s gifts?

5. How does the narrator define human life?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 601 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample