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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 warning does Steel give to Nassun?

2. Why is Nassun unable to use her silver to pass through the forest at Old Man's Pucker?

3. What is the relationship between tuners and orogenes?

4. Which of the following is NOT a reason why Essun travels with Castrima?

5. Why does Hoa tell Essun that he is "safe" to love (172)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What created the obsidian column at the heart of the dead civ in Old Man's Pucker?

2. What will Grey Man do to Nassun after she has opened the Obelisk Gate?

3. How does Schaffa explain his cruelty towards the orogenes when he and Nassun discuss the issue on their way to the Station?

4. Why did Essun destroy the geode at Castrima?

5. Where is Hoa while he narrates the novel?

6. Essun begins Chapter 1 with a group of caretakers. Where are they from and where are they headed?

7. What does Maxixe realize about Essun when they are reunited in the stone forest?

8. Why does Schaffa warn Nassun not to trust the obelisks?

9. How does Schaffa describe the Shattering?

10. What’s unusual about the building Kelenli leads the tuners to during their first lesson?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Syl Anagist: Zero, Hoa says, “But sometimes, when the world is hard, love must be harder still” (Jemisin 321). Explain the meaning of this quote, both in its immediate context and in the context of the novel as a whole. How do different characters demonstrate this idea? How can we apply it to the novel’s resolution?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay describing how Jemisin develops the theme of racism’s beginnings. What social and physical factors lead to racial prejudice in the setting of the novel? How are racist systems perpetuated from one generation to the next? How are racist systems enforced?

Essay Topic 3

Hoa suggests that he ‘wants’ to remember Kelenli as resembling Essun and likewise wants to remember Gallat as resembling Schaffa. What does this desire tell us about Hoa’s attitudes towards those characters? What similarities are there in the roles those characters play in his life?

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This section contains 659 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample