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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 is Harvey Randall?

2. Where is Tim Hamner at the opening of the book?

3. What does Marty want to do?

4. Where is Loretta?

5. Why does Eric kill Fred?

Short Essay Questions

1. What demonstrates that the women are handling the situation quite well?

2. What happens when Tim and Eileen try to buy a car and what is the implication?

3. How is the comet likened to a hot fudge sundae and what is the consequence of that analogy?

4. Who is Alim Nasser and how does he choose unwisely to face the situation about the comet strike?

5. What does Harvey find when he finally makes it home?

6. What is Harvey's reaction to what he finds and do you understand his reaction?

7. What happens to Norm Lilly that demonstrates the continued deterioration of law and order?

8. What advice does Tim give the ranger?

9. What is Harry doing when the comet strikes and what is his response?

10. Who seems to take Armitage's type of preaching to heart in this section and what does he do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As Joanna listens to Mark and Frank, she's increasingly annoyed that Mark continually interrupts Frank with opinions of his own regarding what other catastrophes could cause the end of the world. Frank had originally been undecided whether to accompany the couple, but had gone because he felt Mark incapable of protecting Joanna and Joanna overly confident that she could protect herself. This book is set in the time in which it is written, the mid-1970s. Choose one of the following to discuss:

Discuss three predominant characteristics of 2 of the major female characters in the book. Do you think these women would be portrayed in a similar fashion in a book written today?

Do women still "need" protecting by men? If such a catastrophe happened in the first decade of the 21st century, would women have a different role than in this book?

Some of the fights take place because there are not enough women to "go around." Discuss this idea and its implications.

Essay Topic 2

Gordie and the Boy Scouts rescue some girl scouts from bikers who are abusing the girls. The boys and girls then pair off and create a new community. Discuss the following:

Assuming these boys and girls range in ages from 13-16, do you think it is responsible of Gordie as an adult to allow and/or even encourage the arrangement between the girls and boys?

Are these young people old enough to make the decision to not return with Harvey? Explain.

If you were a girl that was rescued, would you be willing to participate in the pairing off and all that implies? Why or why not?

What do you think the group would do to any boy or girl or refuses to pair off? Explain.

Is it moral for an adult to pair off with a sixteen year old girl, especially considering he has a wife already?

Essay Topic 3

It seems that the people who will survive this comet strike are those who do not depend on military, police and rescue crews to save them; the hard truth is that those crews are going to be of little actual use. Discuss the following:

Analyze those who are surviving in the best way possible in the novel and relate how they are able to do so. How much do they depend upon "official" agencies for survival?

How often in real life do people depend upon their government at any level to "save" them? Is this a healthy attitude? Why or why not.

Do you think those in many countries, including the United States, have become too dependent on others to "save" them rather than their own self reliance?

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