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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 Authority react to Wili's ploy?

2. When forced to tell Allison how he knows her, what does Wili say?

3. What do Wili and Paul say they need to create larger bobbles?

4. What device does Wili find hidden among his possessions after he leaves Kaladze's camp?

5. What does Della want to do with Kaladze?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Paul decide to embobble himself?

2. How does Della and Mike's relationship change while they are at Kaladze's camp?

3. Why does Avery decide to enact Renaissance?

4. How does Wili manipulate the Authority's communication system for the Tinker's advantage?

5. Why are Paul and the others stopped on the road to the Authority enclave?

6. How and why do Mike and Wili demonstrate their new bobble generator?

7. Why does Wili embobble the tenement building during the hottest part of the day?

8. What important bobbles does Paul say are due to collapse soon?

9. What is Wili's assessment of the situation with Mike and Della?

10. Why does Mike decide to embobble himself?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Red Arrow Industries are the remnants of a foreign military force from the advent of the Peace Authority. Over the years, they have changed significantly and play an important role in the conflict between the Tinkers and the Authority.

1) Describe the origins of Red Arrow Industries, including how they came into conflict with the Authority, and how and why they settled in North America.

2) Explain how Red Arrow Industries operates as a community and as a manufacturing business. Discuss their technological and business relationship with the Tinkers and the organization of their settlement.

3) Discuss the role that Red Arrow Industries plays in the conflict between the Tinkers and the Authority.

Essay Topic 2

Paul recognizes quickly that Wili has a deep love of knowledge, a trait that connects them, and which allows Wili's capabilities to grow rapidly under Paul's tutelage. This passion is a critical element of the story and plays an important role in the denouement.

1) Explain how Paul recognizes Wili's love for knowledge, and why this trait interests him.

2) Discuss the impact of this trait on Wili's development and studies; explain how it positions him to take over for Paul later in the novel.

3) Describe some of the other characters and groups who share this trait, and discuss how they are presented in the novel. Is a love of knowledge presented as a universal good, a mixed good, or in a neutral light?

4) Explain the importance some characters predict, near the end of the novel, that the love of knowledge will have.

Essay Topic 3

The Tinkers are a wide spread and loosely organized group that reveres Paul and his work. Although they suffer a significant blow during the events after the chess tournament, their actions as a group drive the plot of the second half of the novel.

1) Describe the Tinkers as a group, their organization, resources, philosophy, and goals.

2) Describe the relationship between the Authority and the Tinkers and discuss the reasons this relationship becomes stressed to the point of war.

3) Discuss some of the major aids that the Tinkers are able to provide to the average people of this setting, and describe the general attitude of those people towards the Tinkers.

(see the answer keys)

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