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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 Qfwfq do while looking for his siblings, so that the others can keep track of where he is?

2. What does Qfwfq do when he locates Ayl?

3. What do the characters use to climb up to the moon?

4. Where does Qfwfq see his sister again?

5. What fields do Qfwfq and his playmate have to consider in their game?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does G'd(w)^n make once matter begins to condense?

2. What does Qfwfq find that Pfwfp is doing when he follows his playmate?

3. How does Pfwfp start acting strangely, as the game between him and Qfwfq goes on?

4. Describe Qfwfq's creation of a galaxy.

5. What happens when Qfwfq comes again to the place where his first sign was, and finds five signs there?

6. Describe Mrs. Ph(i)Nk_0.

7. What does Qfwfq try to communicate with Ayl when they first meet?

8. Why does Qfwfq say he could not make an accurate guess as to how many beings their were at the point before the Big Bang?

9. Why does Qfwfq fear making a third true sign?

10. What argument does Qfwfq give that the Z'zus could not be properly described as immigrants?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Characters in COSMICOMICS use reason and logic to different degrees to try to understand the universe. Discuss the role of reason and logic in COSMICOMICS.

1) How does Qfwfq use reason and logic to understand the universe in "How Much Shall We Bet?" What does Qfwfq miss about understanding the universe, through using reason and logic?

2) How does the narrator use reason and logic to understand the path of his fall and how to interact with other characters in "The Form of Space"? What role does reason and logic play in the narrator's personal relationships with the other characters?

3) How does Qfwfq's great-uncle use reason and logic to defend his position in "The Aquatic Uncle"? Why does his reason and logic break down when he is asked to make decisions about events that take place on land?

Essay Topic 2

COSMICOMICS deals with the divisions that exist between the self and others, and the relationship of one's inner self to the society of others outside one's self. Discuss the dichotomy between self and others in COSMICOMICS.

1) How are the characters in "All at One Point" separate from each other and yet unified? What role does the separation between self and others have in quibbling and pettiness? What role does the unification of separate individuals play in the expansion of the point at the end of the story?

2) In "Games without End," how is Pfwfp a reflection of Qfwfq? In what other stories are "others" a reflection of the narrator's self, and to what extent?

3) How are relatives, who share history and genetic makeup, a part of the characters in the story and in some ways an extension of the self?

Essay Topic 3

Each story in COSMICOMICS is based on a snippet of information about science. Discuss the role of science in Calvino's stories.

1) How does the author choose the science information to base the stories on? Why are some of the science ideas and theories ones that have been disproved?

2) What role does science play in the stories themselves? Why does Calvino make his stories fantastical, and what relationship does the fantastical have to science?

3) What is Calvino's attitude toward science in COSMICOMICS?

(see the answer keys)

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