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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. How does the narrator excuse Gulliver’s violence?

2. How long does Isobel say it has been, since she and her husband talked as openly as they talk after Hamlet?

3. What part of the night sky does the narrator say affects humans?

4. What is life like for the narrator after he loses his gifts?

5. What is Ari’s response to the thing the narrator tells him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the narrator about to tell Isobel when he sees Zӧe being harassed on the street?

2. How does the narrator dispose of the replacement’s body?

3. What contrast does the narrator draw between his home and Earth, after Isobel takes care of him?

4. How does the narrator find out about the presence of the replacement?

5. What does the narrator learn from reading Isobel’s novel Wider than the Sky?

6. What is the general tendency in the advice the narrator writes out for his son (and for the reader)?

7. How does the narrator get Gulliver’s buy-in for his authority and power?

8. How does the narrator finally break the hosts’ hold on him?

9. What do the narrator’s hosts say when he tells them that he needs more time?

10. What is the secret Ari has been keeping for Andrew Martin?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who in today’s world holds the view that humans are greedy and violent? What policies do the parties who believe this propose? Who in today’s world believes that humans are flawed but basically good? What policies do the parties who believe this propose? How does The Humans answer this divergence of opinions?

Essay Topic 2

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

Write a character sketch of the author based on his style and content. What can we tell about him, based on the choices he makes in terms of description, characterization and plot? What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

(see the answer keys)

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