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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 type of plane does Marian buy in Alaska?

2. The novel glosses the world “polynya” as which of the following?

3. Where does Marian meet Eddie?

4. Where does Jamie train for the navy?

5. A professor of what subject buys Wallace’s house?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Barclay die?

2. Hadley watches a documentary about one of Adelaide’s artistic projects; describe the project briefly.

3. What subjects does Marian study in Britain?

4. What mercy does Marian perceive in her assumption that her love for Ruth cannot be reciprocated?

5. What insight into fear does Hadley report having from playing Marian?

6. How does Marian interpret Cochran’s carefully constructed appearance?

7. What does Marian take with her when she absconds towards an abortion?

8. What fears does Jamie note harboring with regard to the Faheys?

9. Why does Jamie give up searching for his father in Seattle?

10. What reason does Marian give to Barclay for wanting to visit a nightclub?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jamie is reported to comment that “Some people are rotten inside, and the rottenness will never go away” (137). Does the novel bear out the comment? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

Consider the overall effect of paratext in the novel. There are a few illustrations and a few footnotes in addition to front and back matter. What do they do for the novel? How do they do it?

Essay Topic 3

A significant amount of readerly attention focuses on a quotation taken from Marian Graves’s logbook: “Circles are wondrous because they are endless. Anything endless is wondrous. But endlessness is torture, too. I knew the horizon could never be caught but still chased it. What I have done is foolish; I had no choice but to do it” (7). Does the novel substantiate the assertions of the quotation? How or how not?

(see the answer keys)

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