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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 happens to the narrator at the end of this chapter?

2. How can the narrator alter his experience of pain?

3. Who is David Long Eagle?

4. What does the narrator believe about Maya?

5. What seems to be blocking Long Eagle from the insight he is seeking?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Webber intuitively feel as he and the narrator talk and what happens right after that feeling?

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

5. What do Wil and the narrator do with Williams and what do they learn about him?

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

7. What does Wil say he sees in Maya's dream?

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

9. What happens in the narrator's initial encounter with Maya?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are three clearly defined sections to Chapter 9. The first and third continue the process of entwining the novel's narrative and spiritual intent, moving the characters towards confrontations with their external and internal destinies. The author is not, it seems, striving to create a logical narrative, but rather to lead the reader into a broader experience of spiritual possibility and understanding. The lengthy middle section of the book, while undeniably preachy, is a clear explanation of what the author sees that possibility and understanding bring into being.

1. Using examples explain how you perceive sections one and three of Chapter 9 move the characters towards confrontations with their external and internal destinies.

2. The author is not, it seems, striving to create a logical narrative, but rather to lead the reader into a broader experience of spiritual possibility and understanding. Do you think this statement is true? Why or why not? When you read this book, was the narrative important to you or only the exploration of the spiritual understanding? Why or why not?

3. The lengthy middle section of the book, while undeniably preachy, is a clear explanation of what the author sees that possibility and understanding bring into being. Explain, with examples, whether you think that author has fulfilled this statement.

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 6, and indeed throughout the novel, storytelling can clearly be seen as a function of thematic agenda - what happens happens because the author wants to make his philosophical point. This manifests here perhaps more blatantly and directly from other novels without such overt agendas, but at its core the purpose of storytelling remains the same no matter what story is being told - to awaken some sort of reaction and/or increased insight in the reader.

1. Explain, with examples why the first sentence above is true.

2. Why do you think a novel that overtly has an agenda would use most of the actions of the characters, the subplots, the behaviors and situations to advance that agenda more so than a typical novel.

3. Do you think the purpose of storytelling is the same no matter what story is being told - to awaken some sort of reaction and/or increased insight in the reader? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Some of the theories expounded in this section are certainly interesting - the idea, for example, that past unresolved conflicts are the source for present tension, and the idea that Soul Groups are unified by what might be described (but which actually aren't) as a talent.

1. Discuss what the ramifications would be for individuals if much of their behavior and personality were a result of previous lives.

2. If Soul Groups were indeed true, discuss in detail why it would be logical for them to be grouped as like talents.

3. For the sake of argument, assume reincarnation is true and argue for or against the idea that animals also experience reincarnation.

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