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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 do the women use to lighten and soften their skin?

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

3. What does Tommo compare to the Typees' cannibalism?

4. Why are the naked old women jumping up and down during the feast?

5. Why does Tommo say the natives are hostile to Europeans?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Tommo say about the native practice of tattooing?

2. Describe Tommo's relationship with the women of Typee.

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

4. What technology of Tommo's impresses the Typees?

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

6. How does Tommo entertain the Typee children?

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

8. How does Tommo compare the Typees to white people?

9. What sight disturbs Tommo?

10. What happens after the second skirmish with the Happars?

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

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 3

What is the function of technology in "Typee"? What does it mean to Tommo, and what does it mean to the Typees? Tommo admires the Typees' technology-free lifestyle, but he does not particularly benefit by western technology, or medical knowledge. How do the Typees relate to technology? What about their ancient predecessors, who made the Stonehenge-like structures? Does the significance of technology change over the course of the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 775 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample