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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. How far away from Akira’s home is a lake?

2. Which of the following does the polar bear do after it leaves Jimmy’s Place with Owen and George on the roof?

3. Which of the following does Natalie use to get to Patience’s apartment?

4. What is the name of Patience’s place of business?

5. Which of the following does Patience have in her apartment?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the novel define SNAP?

2. Why must Akira’s family flee their home on horse?

3. What urges Natalie to seek shelter with Patience?

4. How does George’s father make a living after losing his job at the port?

5. Why does Akira initially wonder if the plane she sees overhead is lost?

6. Why does Patience rail against the vigilantes?

7. What occasions the food shortage in Churchill that Owen recalls?

8. How does the novel define a firebreak?

9. How do polar bear traps work in the novel?

10. What leads Owen to consider the ruination of Churchill?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, some characters are given but one name, while others are given first- and surnames, and still others are accorded names and titles. What significance, if any, accrues to patterns of naming in the novel? If no significance accrues, what purpose might be served by the patterns of naming in the novel? How does Two Degrees bear as much out?

Essay Topic 2

Readerly attention focuses on the following passage: “‘Some people are always going to take without giving,’ [Patience] said. ‘I’m always going to give without taking’” (3504). Considering your own reading of the novel, what accounts for the attention paid to the passage? Why might it attract attention?

Essay Topic 3

Section divisions, their titles, and chapter numbering / division schema are all components of paratext. That is, they are not part of the text but are associated with it closely and affect its meaning. What significance, if any, accrues to the chapter-numbering scheme at work in Two Degrees? If there is significance, how does that significance manifest? If there is not, what in the novel supports the paratextual divisions that are in place?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 621 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample