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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 are the ravine's sides covered with, that make it dangerous going down and up?

2. How does Toby plan to help Tommo?

3. What does the narrator see when he wakes up after a nap on his second day on the island?

4. What kind of meat do Toby and Tommo eat with the Typees?

5. What do the narrator and Toby plan to subsist on on the island?

Short Essay Questions

1. What plans do Toby and Tommo make for escape?

2. What is Tommo's situation at the beginning of "Typee"?

3. What communication do Toby and Tommo exchange with the natives?

4. What signs of native activity do Toby and Tommo see, and how do they ultimately meet the natives?

5. Toby and Tommo follow a footpath. Where does it lead them, and how do they proceed?

6. What is life like on the whaling ship for Tommo?

7. What signs of civilization do Toby and Tommo see from the mountains?

8. Describe the island of Nukuheva.

9. Describe Tommo's companion Toby.

10. What are the Ti and the Hoolah Hoolah grounds?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the idea of the taboo apply to "Typee"? What characters or things are taboo, and what does the taboo mean in each case? Are taboos violated? Are exceptions made? What is Tommo's relationship with the Typee taboos? Is he initiated into any of them or is he kept apart from them?

Essay Topic 2

How would you describe "Typee" as an allegory? What allegorical or moral meaning does "Typee" have? What is it an allegory for? What do its plot, its development, and its ultimate resolution teach us? Is there a clear moral to the book? Do you think the book's moral is clear, intentionally vague, or accidentally vague?

Essay Topic 3

What role has Polynesia played in the American or Western imagination? What have the Pacific islands meant for white people? How was Melville trading on this impression? How did he resist it with his "peep" into Polynesian life? How did he reinforce the stereotypical views of Polynesia?

(see the answer keys)

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