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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. Who does the minister send Trevize to?

2. What might be the original name of Comporellon according to the document?

3. What unusual passenger was on a ship, according to the document?

4. How does Trevize first try to convince the official to let him land?

5. What is Bliss' view of breaking the law?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Pelorat say the rain means, when the spaceship is departing?

2. Why would a Gaian naturally value law?

3. At the beginning of the novel, what former decision does Trevize question?

4. Who picks up the three travelers when they land on Comporellon?

5. Why are the oldest records of Gaia stored in inanimate, inaccessible locations?

6. Why does Pelorat want to stay on Aurora?

7. What does the choice of clothing of people on Comporellon show about human nature?

8. What possible reason does Trevize think the sensors might not detect life on the entry stations to Aurora, if there were someone guarding the planet?

9. What does Trevize want to prove during his sexual encounter with the government minister?

10. Why would a Gaian naturally value truth?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the genre of the novel.

1) What aspects of the novel make it science fiction? What science is important to the novel?

2) What aspects of the mystery genre does this novel have? What is the mystery at the heart of the novel?

3) In what ways does Trevize act as a detective? What is the "twist" at the end of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

The societies depicted in Foundation and Earth adapt to their environments and also adapt their environments to their own needs.

1) Compare in what ways do the planets Trevize visits adapt to their environments, and in what ways they adapt the environments to their own needs.

2) Is it better in the novel to adapt to an environment or to try to change the environment? Are both necessary?

3) Is it dangerous to try to change one's environment? Can it be dangerous to try to adapt to an environment?

Essay Topic 3

Compare Gaia and Solaria. Both have gone to opposite extremes. In Gaia, all mankind and nature has joined together. In Solaria, each human separates himself from other humans and from the natural environment, living in a robot-built estate underground. However, in both Gaia and Solaria, peace is achieved through a lack of conflict. Compare the different values that the societies exhibit, and how they attempt to resolve the conflict between the individual and the society. After the attempt, do these cultures still contain "individuals"? Do they still contain "societies"? Is one possible without the other?

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This section contains 730 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample