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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. In what martial art are scythes trained?

2. Into what day does Davey threaten to knock Slayd?

3. What is Tyger doing when Rowan finds him in his apartment?

4. What form of Bokator do Tyger and Scythe Rand practice?

5. Which of the following scythes speaks out against Anastasia’s methods?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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?

4. What is the irony in Greyson’s unsavory cousin having “iron chains surgically implanted in his wrists” (102)?

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

6. Xenocrates, “the most important scythe in the region,” notes that he “enjoyed the robe—except on the occasions that its weight became an issue” (19). While he remarks on an example relating to swimming in the note, there is a symbolic meaning to the comment. What is it, and how does it appear?

7. The Thunderhead remarks that its Charter Regions are experiments (59). What experiment is it conducting in Texas? What result does it expect?

8. With what task does Faraday charge Rowan concerning his scythe-killing, and why does he do so?

9. The Thunderhead rebukes its administration for desiring more ostentatious buildings (69-70). Why, per the text, does it do so?

10. There is a note that Scythe Anastasia “was beginning to hate having to take the obsequious self-driving cars. Funny, but it had never bothered her before her apprenticeship. Citra Terranova had never had a burning desire to learn to drive—but Scythe Anastasia now did. Perhaps it was part of the self-determined nature of being a scythe that made her feel uncomfortable as a passive passenger in a publicar. Or maybe it was the spirit of Scythe Curie rubbing off on her” (38). What rhetorical appeal/s is/are present in the passage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Thunderhead remarks that “although I do not require devotion, am I not deserving of it?” as it considers its status relative to the deities worshipped in its past (158). Based on the text leading up to the comment—the beginning of the novel through Chapter 15, “Hall of the Founders”—is the Thunderhead correct? How or how not, and to what extent?

Essay Topic 2

Greyson notes that those who, like him, express an early interest in working in Thunderhead administration are generally dull, boring (67). Why might this be so? What in the text and in experience suggest it, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

The Thunderhead remarks on its disembodiment, noting it as a good thing (75). Why might it be good for the Thunderhead to remain disembodied? What makes that reasoning good? What, in this context, does “good” mean?

(see the answer keys)

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