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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 is wrong with Essun's arm when she wakes up at the beginning of the novel?

2. What is unusual about the black vines Nassun finds in the Station?

3. What happens to Schaffa as he goes deeper into the deadciv ruin at Old Man's Pucker?

4. What is the relationship between tuners and orogenes?

5. How does Nassun power the Station?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Hoa describe magic in Syl Anagist: Four?

3. Who does Ykka take Essun to see after Essun first wakes up from her coma?

4. Why does Hoa’s prison in Syl Anagist require no guards?

5. When Schaffa and Nassun arrive at Old Man's Pucker, they camp outside the forest before heading in to look for the Station. Why?

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

7. Why does Schaffa warn the orogenes from Found Moon to flee the next comm they visit if the Season ends?

8. Why does Nassun want to end the world?

9. How does Nassun convince Schaffa to let her protect him after she summons the vehimal at the station?

10. Why can the stone eaters track Nassun?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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?

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