View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the natives keep asking Tommo to do?

2. What is a synonym for taboo?

3. Whom does Tommo ask Mehevi to take on the canoe?

4. What about the appearance of the Typees does Tommo notice most?

5. What animals is Tommo surprised to find in Typee?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Tommo describe of the natives' cosmetics?

2. What sight disturbs Tommo?

3. How does Tommo entertain the Typee children?

4. What does Tommo say about the natives' fishing expedition?

5. What does Tommo say about the natives' musical arts?

6. Describe the preparations for the feast of the calabashes.

7. Describe the harmonious aspects of Typee life Tommo notices.

8. Describe the practice of taboos among the Typees.

9. How is the men's company different from the women's company for Tommo?

10. Describe Typee marriage arrangements.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What barriers do Tommo and the Typees put up between themselves to preserve the difference between each other's cultures? How does Tommo remain a white man? How does he become a native? How are the natives affected by Tommo's culture? How do they protect their culture from Tommo's influence?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

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".

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 682 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample