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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 Wil confirm about Williams to the narrator?

2. What does the narrator say was present with the formation of the United States?

3. What do Wil and the narrator learn from Feyman's Birth Vision?

4. What kind of vision do the four allies experience?

5. What was the narrator's ultimate end in the previous life he envisioned?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the narrator suggest about the 1960's?

2. Describe the vision the narrator had at the beginning of Chapter 6, Part 2.

3. What did the narrator see in his vision about the teachings of Christ?

4. What does the group do after Charlene explains why she is in the valley?

5. How does the narrator describe hell in Chapter 7?

6. Who is one of the souls the narrator recognizes in hell?

7. Describe what the four members of the Group first do when they meet at the waterfall and what they see.

8. What did the narrator see begin to emerge that changed the way humans interacted with the world?

9. How does the narrator connect Charlene with one of his previous lives?

10. What types of human thoughts did he consider important to the World Vision that he saw in his vision?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There is a development of what might be called a parallel narrative or subplot - the deepening of the mystery of what happened during that past encounter between Natives and Whites. This subplot functions as all subplots do - to illuminate and define events and/or circumstances in the main narrative, albeit perhaps with more thematic and/or spiritual relevance than most subplots.

1. Explain what you think the above statements mean. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

2. Do you think the subplot was essential to the book? Why or why not? What did the subplot add?

3. Explain, in depth, what you learned about the characters from the subplot.

4. Do you believe the author has suggested the characters' personalities and behaviors are essentially static from lifetime to lifetime? Why or why not? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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