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

2. What night do Anastasia and Rowan meet at the Mortality Memorial?

3. In what year does the action of the novel begin?

4. Kissing a scythe’s ring offers a person how long an immunity from gleaning?

5. What is the name of the probation officer who replaces Traxler for Slayd?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

3. Anastasia notes that the site of the Mortality Memorial is “a city underserved by the scythedom” because it “was too macabre for them” and “in very poor taste” (45). Why would scythes, whose work is in killing people, find celebrations of death macabre and in poor taste, per the novel?

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

5. Scythe Brahms observes that “no one should see a scythe so indisposed and live” when a couple sees him bestrewn with rotting food and helps him; instead, he gives them immunity from execution and sends them on their way (11-12). How does the passage serve to reinforce his personal authority?

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

7. In his expulsion hearing, Greyson works “to seamlessly begin to paint a convincing fiction” (93-94). What is the primary rhetorical appeal he makes in his presentation, and how is it enacted?

8. 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?

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

10. What reasons does Scythe Curie give for taking an excursion to Endura when Anastasia is excused from gleaning?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Greyson, in his persona as Slayd, poses the following questions (195): “Was it wrong for the Thunderhead to rehabilitate people from the inside out? Should evil people be allowed the freedom to be evil, without safety nets?” What answers does the novel give to those questions? What in the text indicates the answer? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Tyger remarks that the language of Texas in the novel is “like listening to Shakespeare” (60). Follow the simile and its implications: what does it mean for Texan speech to be like Shakespearean, what does it suggest about Texas in the novel, and how does it do so?

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