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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. Where does Qfwfq want Lll to come away with him to?

2. What do the New Ones do when they find the dinosaur body?

3. What does one of the spectators at the fight between Zahn and Qfwfq call out?

4. How does Dean (k)yK try to back out of the bet that there will be atoms?

5. How does Dean (k)yK react when Qfwfq loses a bet?

Short Essay Questions

1. When does the narrator suppose that he might finally meet Ursula, and what does he fear about that potential meeting?

2. What is the attitude of the New Ones to the Dinosaurs, when Qfwfq first encounters the New Ones after his period of isolation?

3. What does the narrator think the first sign he sees is referring to?

4. What second enormous hand sign does the narrator make, and why?

5. In what way, according to the narrator's description, does the existence of a shell bring about eyes and the ability to see?

6. Why does the narrator not want to show his desire to meet Ursula at the beginning of the story "The Form of Space"?

7. How does Zahn first react to Qfwfq?

8. How does Qfwfq describe Dean (k)yK, on a typical day in the present?

9. What gives Qfwfq an advantage over Dean (k)yK when they bet during the early evolution of the universe?

10. Describe N'ba N'ga's objections to living on land.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout COSMICOMICS, perception affects and often creates reality. Discuss the relationship of perception and reality in COSMICOMICS.

1) How do others' opinions of Qfwfq (or the unnamed narrator) shape his opinion of himself and his actions in Calvino's stories?

2) In "All at One Point," how does shared perception create reality? Why is shared perception more powerful than individual perception?

3) How do the different characters' perceptions of change in "At Daybreak" and "Without Colors" affect their experience of reality?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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