View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word used in Chapter 6 means to make something continue indefinitely, such as an undesirable situation?
(a) Articulate.
(b) Assonance.
(c) Retrieval.
(d) Perpetuate.

2. What does Allison whisper from the darkened corner of her cell after hours of complete silence in Chapter 5?
(a) “I forgot.”
(b) “I need out.”
(c) “I love you.”
(d) “It’s not real.”

3. What does Holston recall Allison clutching as she collapsed after her cleaning in Chapter 4?
(a) Her helmet.
(b) Her oxygen tank.
(c) Her boots.
(d) Her gloves.

4. What part of Holston’s mind is described in Chapter 4 as being not “made for this, to be calmly ushered to a death it was perfectly aware of”?
(a) “The animal part of his mind.”
(b) “The analytical part of his mind.”
(c) “The vulnerable part of his mind.”
(d) “The rational part of his mind.”

5. Holston wonders as he is being dressed by Nelson in Chapter 4 why the others have always complied when in this position. “Holston thought maybe that people went along because” of what reason?
(a) “They wanted revenge.”
(b) “They couldn’t believe it was happening.”
(c) “They believed they would find a way to escape.”
(d) “They believed that they deserved it.”

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Holston recall Allison using to clean with during her cleaning in Chapter 4?

2. What color overwhelms the surroundings of the world outside the silo when Holston exits for his cleaning in Chapter 6?

3. Who, along with two staff employees, is holding Allison down on the floor when Holston arrives in the beginning of Chapter 5?

4. As Holston is about to exit the airlock for his cleaning, the narrator notes that the airlock area will be scrubbed clean and ready for the next cleaning by what time in Chapter 6?

5. In Chapter 5, the narrator says, “The enormous pent-up pressure of the place was now hissing through the seams in whispers.” What literary technique is used in this sentence?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Holston find in the cafeteria in the beginning of Chapter 5?

2. What instructions does Nelson give to Holston in Chapter 4?

3. Why is Holston’s entering the holding cell a dangerous action in Chapter 5? Why does he commit this action?

4. What does Holston recall of Allison’s preparations to depart for her cleaning in Chapter 4?

5. What is Nelson’s position in the story? What does he tell Holston in the beginning of Chapter 4?

6. Where did Holston watch Allison’s cleaning from? What does the narrator say Allison did when she completed the cleaning in Chapter 4?

7. What is the setting and time frame of Chapter 5? What is Holston doing in the opening of the chapter?

8. How would you describe Holston’s emotional state in the end of Chapter 6?

9. Whom does Allison believe to be responsible for keeping secrets in Chapter 5?

10. What does Holston do after performing the cleaning duty in Chapter 6?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 943 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample