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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. Who does Margo call after leaving the Superstition Exhibit in Chapter 21?

2. What is significant about the Mbwun figure?

3. Who finds being locked in the break room of the museum in Chapter 4 outrageous?

4. Who is Pendergast?

5. Whose body was supposedly found mutilated in the museum, thus starting the rumor of the museum beast as related to Margo in Chapter 15?

Short Essay Questions

1. What connection between the killer and the Mbwun figurine does Margo make in Chapter 25?

2. In what year does Whittlesey's expedition take place? How long is this before the events depicted in the rest of the novel?

3. What does Margo smell in the Superstition Exhibit hall that frightens her? Where has the reader heard of this scent previously in the novel?

4. Why is D'Agosta called to the Computer Room in Chapter 26? What happens while he is there?

5. What are the three conditions Rickman gave to Smithback in the writing of his book in Chapter 13?

6. Where does Whittlesey find Crocker? What does the marks on the body say to Whittlesey about Crocker's fate?

7. What is odd about the DNA sample the lab tech examines in Chapter 17?

8. Why is the local bar, The Blarney Stone Tavern, near the museum referred to as The Bones by museum employees?

9. What does Smithback ask Kawakita to help him with in Chapter 25? Why does Kawakita refuse?

10. What happened to the rest of Whittlesey's team?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss scientific expeditions. What are they? What is the purpose of an expedition? Who goes on these expeditions? Are they restricted just to scientists? What happens to the artifacts taken during these expeditions? For what purpose are these artifacts taken? Should they be taken? Compare and contrast a real expedition with the Whittlesey expedition discussed in this novel. For example, compare the Whittlesey expedition with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Discuss the details of each, what the explorers hoped to find, and what the end result was. What did each of these expeditions do for civilization?

Essay Topic 2

What is Kawakita's computer program? What does it do? Why did Kawakita create the program? How does the program relate to his field of study? To his dissertation? What does Margo use the computer program to do? Does it help her with her dissertation? What else does she learn from the program? What does Dr. Frock run through the program? What does it tell them about the creature that is terrorizing the museum? Does this information help them to catch it? Later, what does Kawakita find in the computer program? What does he use this information to do? What possible impact will this action have on the people of New York?

Essay Topic 3

In the end, how many people did the creature kill? Why did the creature not kill Cuthbert? What happened to Cuthbert instead? Was this a fate well deserved, or a sad turn of events? Explain your answer. What did the police find in the creature's lair? What does this suggest about the creature's lifestyle? Who was identified by the artifacts found in the creature's lair? Did the creature really kill all those people? Why did the FBI not allow Dr. Frock to autopsy the body of the creature? What might have been found if he had? Why would the FBI try to cover up such a creature's existence? Is it possible another creature could again invade New York or a similar place? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

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