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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 does Kory-Kory tell Toby and Tommo about the Happars?

2. What is the Ti?

3. What does Tommo think is his and Toby's only chance for escape?

4. How does the narrator describe Toby's personality?

5. What happens to the narrator's leg?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why would it be dangerous for Tommo to desert from his ship, and how does he plan to avoid the danger?

4. What kind of routine does Tommo enter into with Kory-Kory?

5. How does Tommo feel about his time on the Dolly?

6. What happens when ships come into the bay?

7. Describe the residents of the island of Nukuheva.

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

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

10. What happens to Tommo's health as he and Toby make their way around in the mountains?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In what ways is "Typee" an outgrowth of Melville's own experience? Research Melville's biography, and compare and contrast his shipboard experience with the experience he describes in "Typee".

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the relationships between society and nature in the novel. What different uses does nature have to the whites? To the natives? Do the whites and natives have different relationships with the natural world? How does Melville characterize the different perspectives?

(see the answer keys)

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