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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 is waiting for Nassun and Schaffa at the bottom of the deadciv ruins in Old Man's Pucker?

2. Who is the one person that Nassun says she would regret destroying with the Obelisk Gate?

3. Which body part does Essun allow to turn to stone when she is forced to use orogeny in the stone forest?

4. What is unusual about the animals and plants in Old Man's Pucker?

5. What does Nassun fear that Schaffa will do when they leave Found Moon?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the Conductors want Kelenli to help the tuners with?

2. What's unusual about the miniature Plutonic Engine that Kelenli shows the tuners during their first lesson?

3. What does Essun realize about the relationship between orogeny and magic when she encounters Maxixe in the stone forest?

4. Why must the orogenes be controlled, according to Schaffa?

5. What happened to Essun’s arm before the beginning of the novel?

6. What causes the Guardians Umber and Nida to attack Nassun?

7. Why does Nassun want to end the world?

8. Why is everyone in Castrima covered with ash during Chapter 1?

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

10. Where is Hoa while he narrates the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jemisin describes a society where characters must depend on each other daily to survive. Write an essay examining the role interdependence plays in the novel. Provide a working definition of interdependence and analyze how it both creates and resolves conflict between characters.

Essay Topic 2

Describe Essun’s character and describe how her experiences with Castrima prepared her for the final confrontation with Nassun at Corepoint. How did her time with Castrima contribute to her state of mind? What was the effect of bringing her companions along? How did the journey influence her decisions in the conflict with Nassun?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay explaining the importance of fragmentation in the novel’s narrative structure. Why does Hoa shift so much between eras and points of view? How does the fragmentation of the narrative reflect the fragmentation between the characters? How does this fragmentation shape our understanding of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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