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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. With what accuracy is the Thunderhead able to predict the path Scythes Curie and Anastasia take after the attempt is made on their lives and before they purpose to entrap their assailants?

2. The first stanza of the nursery rhyme about the Land of Nod, “Let’s all forsake / the Land of Wake, / And break for the Land of Nod” (145) offers an example of which of the following?

3. Which of the following can cause a permanent death in the novel?

4. What instrument does Ethan J. Hogan play?

5. In what Texas city is Tyger’s position?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. At first glance, the term “deadish” that appears throughout the novel might seem to be a euphemism; the “ish” suffix tends to be one that mitigates the effect or impact of the stem word to which it is attached. Why, however, is it NOT an example of euphemism?

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

7. Xenocrates engages in a “trialogue” in a cathedral confessional with a representative of the Thunderhead and an Interlocutor, the latter of which serves as a go-between (20-23). There is a symbolic component to the meeting; what is it, and how does it manifest?

8. Rowan notes that “imagination had atrophied.…become vestigial and pointless, like the appendix—which had been removed from the human genome more than a hundred years ago” (15). What does the simile foreshadow will happen within the narrative milieu? How does it do so?

9. 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?

10. What does Rowan identify as problems with the scythes’ security forces when he confronts Xenocrates in his bath?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the following passage:

It was, therefore, decided that the play would conclude shortly after Caesar dies, robbing an irritated Marc Antony of his famous “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” speech. No one would cry havoc and release the dogs of war. Instead, the lights would come up on a stunned audience. There would be no curtain call. The curtain, in fact, would never close. Instead, Caesar’s very dead body would remain on the stage until the last of the audience left. This, Aldrich’s final moment of acting was to be marked by an inability to act in any way whatever (261).

The proposed adaptation is a substantial one. Given the presumed audience for the play within the text, what effect is the alteration likely to have? What in the text suggests it? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the following exchange:

“Yes, but the crystalline appearance of the tower pinnacles is beautiful, isn’t it?”

Xenocrates harrumphed at that. “Isn’t form supposed to follow function?”

“Not in the scythedom,” replied his valet (408).

Does the novel as a whole support the assertion? What in the text suggests whether it does or not? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

The Thunderhead notes that “increased wisdom and perspective on their lives” does not linger long in those who have died and been revived (87). Why might this be the case? What in the text and in experience tells you so? How does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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