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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Ishmael, which is NOT a ‘trick’ the gods played on the Takers?
(a) Not exempting man from the laws that govern populations of animals and plants.
(b) Refusing to put the world in the center of the solar system and universe
(c) Failing to create man after a special fashion unique in nature
(d) Neglecting to write down their laws for the benefit of men

2. How does Ishmael characterize a community that does not live by the peace-keeping law?
(a) Uniquely valuable
(b) Quick to collapse
(c) Extremely powerful
(d) Ecologically fragile

3. In Chapter 11, how does Ishmael define culture?
(a) As the set of answers to a people’s most pressing questions
(b) As the knowledge that is passed down generation to generation
(c) As the things a people cannot give up without becoming someone else
(d) As the total set of a people’s actions and words

4. What is the second thing that the narrator says the Takers do, which is not done in nature?
(a) Deny competitors access to food
(b) Sell their produce
(c) Steal other animals’ food
(d) Turn killing into an abstract law

5. Why does the narrator have a hard time agreeing to Art Owens’ demands?
(a) He cannot put a price on his friendship with Ishmael
(b) He dislikes Art Owens
(c) He does not have the money
(d) He wants to be free of the whole business

6. Where is Ishmael’s reference to the Second Murderer drawn from?
(a) Mamet’s Oleanna
(b) Shakespeare’s Macbeth
(c) Homer’s The Iliad
(d) Plato’s Republic

7. In Chapter 7, what law does Ishmael say he is looking for?
(a) The law of how to pass knowledge from one generation to another
(b) The law that keeps individuals content within the community
(c) The law of cultural evolution
(d) The law that keeps the community together

8. When does Ishmael say the Take population will contract?
(a) When the populace outstrips its food supply
(b) When it runs out of natural resources
(c) When the population bomb explodes
(d) When the earth rebels

9. What does Ishmael say has been the result of the Takers’ interpretation of the law he and the narrator discuss in Chapter 8?
(a) To establish one or two just civilizations
(b) To produce a paradise on earth
(c) To bring the benefits of civilization to more people than ever
(d) To bring the world to its knees

10. What keeps the narrator from returning to Ishmael the next day, after discussing Adam and Eve?
(a) His work
(b) A visiting uncle
(c) Car trouble
(d) Resistance to Ishmael’s teaching

11. What knowledge does Ishmael say the gods have that allows them to rule the world?
(a) Knowledge of good and evil
(b) Knowledge of justice
(c) Knowledge of death
(d) Knowledge of life

12. How long does it take the narrator to come up with the laws Ishmael asked him to define?
(a) One day
(b) Four days
(c) Two weeks
(d) Three days

13. How does Ishmael characterize the gods in his description of their debates?
(a) As wise men
(b) As short-sighted people
(c) As troublemakers
(d) As squabblers

14. How does Ishmael say people think about prehistory, before the agricultural revolution?
(a) Idealistically
(b) Loathsome
(c) Intriguing
(d) Appealing

15. What scenario does Ishmael describe in Chapter 7, which horrifies the narrator?
(a) The meetings of the gods, where the gods do nothing but bicker
(b) A city where the neighbors eat each other
(c) A jungle where the animals have committee meetings
(d) A city where every plant and tree is ordered

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ishmael ask the narrator to leave and come back with in Chapter 11?

2. What is a paean?

3. What kind of act does Ishmael say the agricultural revolution was?

4. What does the narrator find when he returns to the office building in Chapter 10 after several days away from Ishmael?

5. Who does Ishmael say is fueling the Third World population explosion?

(see the answer keys)

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