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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 does Ykka do with Maxixe's band of followers after the encounter at the stone forest?

2. What trait did Kelenli and the other turners share in common?

3. What were Houwha's people called during his time in Syl Anagist?

4. What entity do Nassun and Essun realize is returning to Earth?

5. To what did Houwha say he felt allegiance during the field trip through Syl Anagist?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Kelenli first meets the other tuners, to what does she attribute her success in riding the onyx obelisk?

2. What happened to Nassun’s father before the beginning of the novel?

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

4. How does Schaffa describe the Shattering?

5. What does Schaffa advise the orogenes from Found Moon to do when he sends them to find a new comm?

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

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

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

9. Why does Nassun want to end the world?

10. Why can the stone eaters track Nassun?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In their final confrontation, Essun enrages her daughter Nassun by hesitating to help her with the Obelisk Gate. This leads to their opposing attempts to activate it as well as Essun’s ultimate fate. Analyze Nassun’s struggle to forgive her mother and explain how this struggle shapes the novel’s climax. Why does Nassun struggle to forgive Essun? What does this lead both characters to do? What does Nassun ultimately decide? What does this suggest about her feelings towards her mother?

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

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.

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