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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 did the doctor's wife forget to do before going to sleep?

2. What are the inmates instructed to do after eating meals?

3. Which of the following is not among the rules announced to the inmates?

4. What does the manager of the hotel do when the Girl with Dark Glasses goes blind?

5. What rumor about the government is going around?

Short Essay Questions

1. What bit of knowledge does the Thief reveal to the Doctor's Wife on the night of his death? What will he do with this knowledge?

2. What appears to be the pattern for the spread of blindness in the novel?

3. How does the First Man compose himself in the Doctor's office?

4. What is the Sergeant's attitude toward the internees?

5. What is the government's plan for dealing with the outbreak at the end of Chapter 3?

6. What insights does the Doctor's Wife have about the society of blind people in quarantine in the beginning of Chapter 5?

7. What does the Doctor do when his Wife tells him that a Man with an Eye-Patch has arrived in the ward?

8. Describe the painting the Man with the Eye-Patch mentions at the end of Chapter 8.

9. By this point, is the dispersal of food effectively organized by Chapter 7?

10. Describe the state of the dormitory at the end of Chapter 6.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Within the quarantine, the dueling forces of authoritarian power and chaos are juxtaposed. The central narrative is the conflict of these opposing forces:

Part 1) Compare and contrast the government's plan for controlling the epidemic through quarantine with its plan for maintaining order within the quarantine.

Part 2) Discuss the results of the rules set down by the government to maintain order in quarantine with their results. Which rules are effective and which are discarded immediately?

Part 3) Compare the authoritarian rule of the government over the blind internees with the authoritarian rule of the Thugs over the other wards.

Essay Topic 2

The beginning of the novel is marked by a sense of helplessness and shame associated with the inability to see. Explore the unifying embarrassment characters feel in these chapters through the following:

Part 1) How would you describe the character of the First Man? Though we do not know anything of him prior to going blind, does he seem like a man used to asking for help? How does he respond to being helped home by the Thief and stumbling around his apartment?

Part 2) In what state are both the Thief and the Girl with Dark Glasses when they go blind? What - in both of their lives - are they hiding from most of the world which is impossible to hide when they are in this helpless state?

Essay Topic 3

Several objects have major effects on the outcome of events in quarantine. Write a body paragraph about each of these objects: initial impressions upon its first appearance in the narrative, conjecture about its possible use by characters, and eventual function within the story:

Part 1) The gun

Part 2) The scissors

Part 3) The lighter

(see the answer keys)

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