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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 color robe does Scythe Constantine wear?

2. To which of the following does Anastasia compare driving a car?

3. What form of address is accorded to a High Blade in the novel?

4. What profession does Slayd assign to his fictional parents?

5. In what AWFul club does Slayd meet Purity?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Purity verify Slayd’s identity, and why does she do so?

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

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

4. Scythe Brahms observes that “five highly developed senses could often have the semblance of a sixth” (6). To what sixth sense does Brahms refer? What purpose might its denial serve for the genre?

5. 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?

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

7. What possibilities for maintaining Earth’s human population count does the Thunderhead foresee, and why are they problems?

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Scythe Curie remarks, “That’s exactly what the scythedom is: high school with murder” (344). Based on the novel, is that an accurate assessment? What in the text supports or undermines the assessment, and how does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Scythe Curie advises “Guard your conscience, Anastasia, and never let it wilt. It is a scythe’s most valuable possession” (191). Does the novel as a whole agree or disagree with the sentiment? What in the text indicates the dis/agreement? How does it do so?

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