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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. Why does Frock think Dr. Wright wants to go on with the Superstition party despite the murders?

2. What does Smithback see in the room he and D'Agosta's group enters in Chapter 60?

3. How is Ippolito killed in Chapter 48?

4. What does Smithback see in Rickman's desk drawer that prompts him to sign the provisions?

5. What first alerts Pendergast that the killer has come into the corridor with him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who directs D'Agosta's party out of the Hall of the Heavens? Which members of the group refuse to go?

2. Why does Coffey instruct Bailey to take command of D'Agosta's group in Chapter 49?

3. What do Margo, Smithback, and Moriarty learn about the Whittlesey Expedition by reading the accession database in Chapter 28?

4. Why does Dr. Frock want to see the crates from the Whittlesey Expedition again?

5. How do Margo and Pendergast lure the creature to them a second time? What is Margo's role in this?

6. Why does Dr. Frock attempt to make all the party guests leave the museum in Chapter 43? Is he successful?

7. What happened to Pendergast's plan to lead D'Agosta and his group to safety? What does this event say about the possibility of rescue for this group?

8. What is Dr. Frock's theory on the killer in the museum as he explains it to Pendergast in Chapter 29?

9. What changes does FBI Agent Coffey make to the murder investigation and the security plan for the Superstition Exhibition's opening night party?

10. What does Smithback do in the subbasement in Chapter 54 that turns him into something like a hero?

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

Discuss one of the following themes in detail:

1) Survival Instinct

2) Ambition

3) Responsibility

4) Scientific Theory

5) Genetic Mutation

Essay Topic 3

Who is Margo Green? Why does the author focus on this character at the beginning of the novel? What does Margo do at the museum? What is her dissertation on? How does this dissertation relate to the events that take place in the novel? How does Margo stumble upon the truth about the killer in the museum? Does Margo know the entire truth about the killer when the climax of the novel takes place? What is still left for Margo to learn? What difference could have been made had Margo learned this last bit of information about the killer?

(see the answer keys)

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