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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 says: "I love you so much. Please marry me. I'm so lonesome. I'm so scared."

2. How many symphonies did James Wait tell Marry Hepburn he had composed?

3. How many times has the narrator been married?

4. How does Mary Hepburn introduce herself to James Wait?

5. What can the narrator see that Mary Hepburn can not in Book 2: Chapter 7?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the Bahia considered to be a ghost ship in the opinion of humankind?

2. When does Mary Hepburn begin her artificial insemination program? How old is she at the time?

3. What does the narrator say after the death of Kazakh and James Wait? Why does he say this?

4. Does Leon Trout obey the Father's request for him to go into the blue tunnel? Explain.

5. What is the irony behind the marriage of Mary Kaplan and Willard Flemming in Book 2: Chapter 4?

6. In the Captain's story he shares with Akiko, how are lobsters much like humans?

7. How is Prince Richard murdered? Who kills him?

8. What is the launching of Reyes's missile compared to in Chapter 34?

9. Why does Mary Hepburn like James Wait immediately?

10. According to the narrator, why do people get hiccups?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How are the blue-footed boobies in the novel symbolic? Why do you think the author puts such an emphasis on the blue-footed boobies? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the need for human companionship as seen in the novel. To what extent do the characters need one another? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Natural selection is defined as the process by which inheritable traits make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce. Make a case for or against natural selection. Use specific reasons and examples from the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 608 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample