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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 Loomis show Ann in one of her father's books?

2. Why does Ann go down to the farm yard with her gun?

3. What does Ann think Faro will do?

4. Why doesn't Ann use the tractor?

5. What does Ann do later in the day without Loomis?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why Ann's parents left her home when they left to discover the effects of the war?

2. How does Mr. Loomis seem later that evening, and what does Ann give him?

3. What does the man do with his Geiger counter and then what terrible error does he make?

4. What does Ann hear Loomis saying in his dreams and what does Ann think about what she hears?

5. Who is the stranger and what was his job before the war?

6. How does Ann get the tractor running and what planting decision does she make?

7. What does the approaching stranger do when he gets halfway across the flat part of the hill overlooking the green valley of Ann's home?

8. How does Ann become inspired to make a salad?

9. Why does Ann decide to go down to the farm yard and what does she discover?

10. What does Ann decide to do as the stranger draws closer?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said that in reading fantastical or non-realistic literature, the reader must be willing to suspend his/her disbelief. Discuss the following:

1. In Chapter 6, Ann along with the reader learns that John Loomis walks from New York to somewhere in Pennsylvania through hundreds of miles of radiation-laden country, along with other poisons such as nerve gas. Is it possible to suspend one's disbelief in order to "play along" with the scenario the author sets up? Is it likely that in the 1960s, a plastic would have been invented that protected one from the effects of radiation exposure? Does this unlikely scenario make you more or less inclined to be engaged with the rest of the story? Explain your answers.

2. What are two other improbable situations in this book that one has to accept in order to engage with the story? Do you have trouble with either situation you name?

3. Are there any situations that stretch your imagination too far and makes you unable to accept the basic premise of the book? What is (are) it (they)?

4. Are you willing in your reading experiences to accept some unrealistic situations in order to become engaged in a book? What would be the purpose of doing so?

Essay Topic 2

Ann watches the progress of the stranger and begins to worry that it might be someone who means her harm. Ann decides to hide all evidence of her existence by burying her garden and releasing her animals, then climbing up to a cave in the hills over her valley. Discuss the following:

1. Does it seem likely a fifteen-year-old girl would retreat from what is likely the only other human being in her surroundings for miles?

2. If you were Ann, would you adopt the same procedure to observe the person from afar for awhile? Do you think it would occur to you to do this?

3. How likely is it that the approaching human would harm another human who may be his/her only way to interact with someone else?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the following:

1. Discuss five literary devices that occur in Z for Zachariah and how they are used. Are they effective? Do they add or detract from the reading of the book? Why or why not. Some possible techniques: Allusion, connotation, denouement, dialogue, flashback, figurative language, motif, metaphor, narrator, point of view, simile, mood, and puns.

2. What do you think are the reasons students are encouraged to understand literary devices? Do you think an understanding of the structure of a work of fiction enhances the reading experience? Why or why not?

3. Do you think authors make a conscious effort to include literary devices into their writing? Discuss your answer. Do you think it would be difficult to consciously create metaphor, simile, puns, etc...? Why or why not?

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