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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Approximately how long is Greyson deadish after stopping Scythes Curie and Anastasia?
(a) One day.
(b) One hour.
(c) One fortnight.
(d) One week.

2. What night do Anastasia and Rowan meet at the Mortality Memorial?
(a) October 21.
(b) November 20.
(c) October 31.
(d) November 10.

3. What breed of dog does Brahms own?
(a) Dachshund.
(b) Maltese.
(c) Chihuahua.
(d) Pekinese.

4. In what city does the novel begin?
(a) Lincoln.
(b) Grand Island.
(c) Kearney.
(d) Omaha.

5. What form of address is accorded to a High Blade in the novel?
(a) Your Majesty.
(b) Your Honor.
(c) Your Grace.
(d) Your Excellency.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which section of the Separation of Scythe and State is violated by Greyson interfering in the attempt on Scythes Curie and Anastasia?

2. Which of the following is an ingredient in Xenocrates’s preferred libation?

3. How wide a crater would have been left by the trap for Scythes Curie and Anastasia?

4. What form of address is accorded to a common scythe in the novel?

5. In which of the following cities does Anastasia perform a gleaning as part of the plan to trap her assailants?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reason does the Thunderhead give for not accepting responsibility for dealing death?

2. The scythes are noted as having an officer called a Parliamentarian. There is a symbolic component to the presence of such an officer; what is it, and how does it manifest?

3. What reasons does the Thunderhead give for the inefficiencies in the Office of Unsavory Affairs?

4. The Thunderhead remarks that it hopes to “have the virtual shoulders of Atlas to bear” what it describes as “very literally, the weight of the world” (167). There is an error in the phrasing; what is it, and why is it wrong?

5. Why does Anastasia feel the need to call upon Greyson after his denigration to unsavory status, per her report?

6. Contrast the requirements for entering scythedom and for becoming a Nimbus agent.

7. What reasons does Scythe Constantine give for the scythedom’s efforts to protect Anastasia when she is excused from gleaning?

8. What reasons does the Thunderhead give for finding employment for all people who want it?

9. Why is it irony, as the Thunderhead remarks, “that with no body, the world itself becomes [its] body” (75)?

10. What reasons does Xenocrates rehearse for visiting his bathhouse more frequently as the year draws to a close?

(see the answer keys)

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