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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 Avery say Della has reported to him about Paul?

2. What false information has Wili been feeding to the Authority?

3. How does Kaladze react to Della's goading?

4. How does Wili deal with the threats around the pass that the Tinker's occupy?

5. What does Della use to indicate Wili's location to the Authority as he tries to escape from the tenement building area?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Wili's abilities compare to Paul's?

2. What is Renaissance?

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

4. Why does Mike contact Della, and what information is exchanged?

5. How does Wili predict where the embobbled tenement building will go?

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

7. What fears do Mike and Allison express when the group returns to Paul's home?

8. Why does Avery believe the Tinkers should be wiped out?

9. Why does Mike decide to embobble himself?

10. Why does Wili decide to trust Mike?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

The events after the chess tournament and at the tenement house spark the final conflict between the Tinkers and the Authority, exacerbating a disagreement that could have smoldered for a long time or fizzled into nothing.

1) Explain the Authority's motivations for intervening at the chess tournament. What were their long and short term goals in this action, and what consequences did they anticipate or fail to anticipate?

2) Discuss Wili's insistence on aiding those trapped at the tenement house. Explain his plan to help them and why he is willing and able to follow through on this dangerous plan.

3) Describe how the events surrounding the chess tournament hostages escalate the conflict between the Tinkers and the Authority.

4) Cite evidence from the novel to explain how the plot may have progressed differently had either Wili or the Authority acted differently at either of these junctions.

Essay Topic 3

At the end of the novel, the world has been totally destabilized by the destruction of the Authority as a cohesive organization. Although Paul, Wili, and the others have accomplished what they set out to do, they express concerns about what effects their actions will have on the world at large.

1) Discuss the major events that occur at the end of the novel which will have a major impact on the stability of the world. Describe the causes of these events and how closely they conformed to Paul's plans.

2) Describe the major political and military powers that exist outside of the Authority, and how they are likely to react to the power vacuum created by the bobbling of the Authority enclave.

3) Speculate, using information from the book, about how the characters remaining at the end of the novel will act to stabilize the world.

4) Based on the situation and the possibilities you have discussed so far, make an assessment as to whether or not Paul and the Tinkers were justified in their plan of action against the Authority.

(see the answer keys)

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