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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 is the benefit of the low reproductive rates of the Typees?

2. How does Kory-Kory reassure Tommo?

3. What did the natives do to the captain who shot birds in the Bay of Tior, in Tommo's recollection?

4. What does Tommo notice about building practices?

5. How does Tommo describe the activity before sleep?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Tommo describe the Typees' feelings about war?

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

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

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

6. Who is Marnoo, and what is his interaction with Tommo?

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

8. What does Tommo say about the Typees' different foods?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a review of "Typee". What did the book set out to do, how did it set out to do it, and did it fulfill the promises it laid out in the opening chapters? How would you characterize the essence of this book? Melville's personality? Melville's literary interests and talents?

Essay Topic 2

After arranging his escape, Tommo is largely passive, ostensibly because of his leg, but possibly because of his personality. In what ways does Tommo act, and how do his actions change over the course of the book? E.g. in the beginning of the book, he is plotting to escape from the ship, in the end he is plotting to escape from Typee. How are these actions similar or different?

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)

This section contains 925 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample