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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to the narrator, what was Gandhi's "great secret"?
(a) He was a serial adulterer.
(b) The fact that he did not want anything for himself.
(c) He was a great admirer of art and artists.
(d) The fact that he secretly yearned for power and glory.

2. On what date do the explorer-scientists set out from New Zealand?
(a) May 1, 2345.
(b) May 21, 1981.
(c) January 1, 2004.
(d) February 20, 2108.

3. What part of "Ape and Essence" makes Bob decide to read the entire script?
(a) Its professional hole punches and brads.
(b) Its glossy title page.
(c) The fact that it is in pristine, unopened condition.
(d) Its opening poetry.

4. Where is Cottonwood Ranch located?
(a) Outside of Chicago, Illinois.
(b) Murcia, California.
(c) Hollywood, California.
(d) New Zealand.

5. Where do the narrator and Bob Briggs discover the screenplay at the heart of the novel?
(a) At Cottonwood Ranch.
(b) In Murcia, California.
(c) Outside the Studio Commissary.
(d) On the Canterbury ship.

6. Which is NOT part of the ceremony held to safeguard against having deformed babies?
(a) A religious leader berates a young woman about the nature of woman.
(b) The Chief is presented with a token of the community's gratitude.
(c) Women are pampered and treated to mineral baths.
(d) Books are burned.

7. Why was a gravedigger subjected to a punishment of twenty-five lashes?
(a) He tried to steal a corpse's ring for himself.
(b) He argued with the leader about the best way to dig up graves.
(c) He tried to run away.
(d) He stepped on a grave.

8. How do the primitives explain the men's propensity to hit women?
(a) Women deserve beatings for their inherent wickedness.
(b) Women are possessed by Belial.
(c) Women need to be toughened up to survive in the wilderness.
(d) Men are possessed by Belial.

9. How much does Bob owe the government in back taxes?
(a) $3.67.
(b) $150,000.
(c) $33,000.
(d) $45.00.

10. Why are the primitives unable to make clothes?
(a) Cotton has changed since the radioactivity of the World War.
(b) Only the Chief is allowed to wear clothes.
(c) There is no machinery left to make clothes.
(d) They are religiously opposed to clothing.

11. Which gravedigger apologizes to Dr. Poole by claiming that burying Dr. Poole was done only for fun?
(a) Loola.
(b) Flossie.
(c) Chief.
(d) Shelley.

12. According to the narrator, truth without charity is not God but ___________.
(a) Man.
(b) An idol.
(c) The Goddess.
(d) The Devil.

13. What does Mrs. Coulton believe about how the narrator and William Tallis might have gotten along?
(a) They would not have liked one another.
(b) Their political differences would have proved too much for even a casual acquaintance.
(c) They would have been indifferent to one another.
(d) They would have gotten along splendidly.

14. What is the name of Bob Briggs' wife?
(a) Miriam.
(b) Katie.
(c) Elaine.
(d) Miss Ethel Hook.

15. In the beginning of the screenplay, the narrator warns that "all too often" Art takes Nature and __________.
(a) Denies all but the lowest organisms.
(b) Manufactures only the ludicrous.
(c) Produces only the sublime.
(d) Crafts only the wicked.

Short Answer Questions

1. What promise does Bob make to Rosie?

2. On which street corner does Chief order books to be incinerated?

3. William Tallis is from ____________.

4. Who is the author of the movie script at the heart of the novel's story?

5. According to a chorus of youths, what is "the chief end of Man"?

(see the answer keys)

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