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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 the narrator do the next morning?

2. Of what has Wil discovered some awareness?

3. What does Webber intend to do to the Experiment?

4. What does John Donald Williams experience?

5. What does Maya do after the narrator tells her what he thinks about her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of work does Webber do and what does he believe about that work?

2. How did the narrator determine he needed to come to an Appalachian valley?

3. What happens to Wil and the narrator when they move to another plane?

4. Wwho seems to lead the narrator into the valley, where does he go and what does he do?

5. What does Maya say about healing?

6. What is the narrator doing when he encounters Maya again and what does she tell him? What do they do?

7. What happens to the narrator as he is attempting to recall his dream vision and what does he learn about Maya?

8. What does Webber explain to the narrator about the Experiment and his involvement?

9. What does Joel say to the narrator about his beliefs?

10. What does the narrator do first upon waking the next morning, how does he feel and what does he think about his injury?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is it stereotypical that insight into the human/animal relationship comes from a Native American character, who in many narratives is portrayed as having a "special" relationship with nature? Or is it archetypal? Might it not have more thematic weight and/or depth if the narrator had REALIZED it, rather than having it explained to him as he has had so many things, repetitively and almost tediously, explained to him/preached at him ... and therefore preached at the reader?

1. Is it stereotypical that insight into the human/animal relationship comes from a Native American character, who in many narratives is portrayed as having a "special" relationship with nature? Explain what you think this statements means with examples from this book and your own life and knowledge.

2. After researching the terms stereotype and archetype, argue for this area of the book to be one or the other. Use examples from the text to illustrate your points.

3. Explain why someone might learn something better and retain it longer if they had learned or researched it themselves rather than had someone tell them.

Essay Topic 2

The main narrative thrust is coming from energy of exploration rather than confrontation - in other words, the narrator is discovering the nature of his story's central conflict rather than playing out that conflict itself. Yes, the surges of dissonance create a certain degree of conflict and tension, but the narrator in Chapter 7, as in previous chapters, is reacting to that conflict rather than engaging in it, going deeper into what is essentially research rather than taking steps to ensure change.

1. Explain, with examples, why you think the main narrative thrust is coming from energy of exploration rather than confrontation.

2. Why do the surges of dissonance create a certain degree of conflict and tension in the novel? Explain why you think they create enough conflict and tension or if the author should have had more conflict. Use examples to support your opinion.

3. Discuss why the author reacts to the conflict in the story rather than engaging in it. Use examples to support your opinion.

Essay Topic 3

It's becoming clearer with each passing chapter that, without actually coming out and saying so, perspective is anchored in the concept of destiny - that each individual comes into this existence with a pre-ordained place, purpose and plan. It's also becoming clearer that while the narrative clearly makes the point that that plan doesn't always come to fruition, it also implies that such failure is the result of inability (for whatever reason) to make the choices for the plan to be accomplished ... in other words, because of free will.

1. What do you think the definition of destiny is and why do you think the author is supporting that concept in this book? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

2. Assuming that destiny is true, and that having a vision of what one is to accomplish in life before being born is true but forgotten with birth, explain with examples, why often the purpose of an individual does not come to fruition.

3. Most religions espouse the idea of free will. Those who have no spiritual beliefs would probably agree. Explain the concept of free will, why it might be a law of life and how it seems to manifest in the real world. Use examples to support your answer.

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