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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. Why does the minister have to be discreet about sex?

2. What does Bliss imagine it would be like to not be part of Gaia?

3. Who does Trevize tell the official Bliss is?

4. What is the official truly interested in?

5. What does Trevize say he might do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Trevize feel when he first steps off his ship onto Aurora?

2. Why won't Bliss use her mental powers to help Trevize keep the Far Star?

3. How long has it been since there has been war in the galaxy?

4. What are some differences between animal life in the galaxy as Trevize knows it and animals on Earth today?

5. When was Gaia first formed?

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

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

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

9. Does Lizalor show respect for the law?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel depicts humanity in many different forms, and in the end of the novel, Fallom merges with Daneel, becoming a partial robot and partial human. Discuss what it means to be human in the novel.

1) In what ways are the different humans from different cultures depicted in the novel the same? Are their similarities more significant than their differences?

2) Why do different human cultures view each other separately and not as part of the same humanity?

3) Is Fallom still human when he merges with Daneel? Is Daneel, in some ways, human?

4) Through adaptation and genetic engineering, is it possible for a human race to change so much that they are no longer "human"? What does it mean to be human?

Essay Topic 2

How do cultures in the novel try to protect themselves and promote their ways of life? Discuss the nature and values of the cultures of Comporellon, Solaria, New Earth, and Gaia. In what ways do each of these cultures compete with each other and try to protect themselves? Can cultures co-exist without undermining one another?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss power in the novel.

1) What gives Bliss power? Is she more powerful than Travize?

2) What kind of power does Travize have in the novel? How do other characters exert power over him?

3) What are Daneel's powers in the novel? Does Daneel have an excess of power?

(see the answer keys)

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