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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 does Ford order that Arthur doesn't want to eat?

2. What does Tricia make a model of on the alien computer system on Rupert?

3. How fast do the Perfectly Normal beasts travel?

4. What does Random do when Ford begs her not to steal his ship and leave him alone in the forest with a head injury?

5. Why is it difficult to tell Random's age?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Random find at the crash site?

2. How does Ford get the new Guide out of the Guide offices?

3. Why is Tricia upset by the video footage she has brought back from her trip into space?

4. How does Arthur use Ford's towel to attract a Perfectly Normal Beast?

5. What comes out of the trees toward Random, as she goes through the woods?

6. How does the new Guide arrange a spaceship to come?

7. Describe the monument that marks the location where the species Vogon Vogonblurtus first appeared.

8. Why is Ford worried about the new Guide?

9. How does the interview between Tricia and Random go?

10. Why is Random fascinated by Arthur's watch?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss chance and randomness in the novel.

1) How does chance and randomness affect the Earth and its different possibilities in different dimensions?

2) How does the existence of the new Guide destroy chance and randomness?

3) How does chance and randomness affect the characters, for good or ill, in the story?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss happiness in the novel.

1) What creates happiness in the novel? Are the factors that contribute to happiness internal or external?

2) How do personality and identity contribute to happiness in the novel?

3) What is the relationship between happiness and belonging in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the ability to discover and perceive truth in the novel.

1) How do the limitations of knowledge and perception affect the ability to discover truth in the novel? How does it affect Tricia's ability to share her knowledge of the existence of aliens?

2) How is Ford's desire to find out the truth behind the new Guide inhibited by the limits of knowledge and perception?

3) Why are characters in the novel unwilling to try to discover truth? Why do scientists find truth muddled and confusing? Why do characters like the Lamuellans not want to delve into mysteries like the Perfectly Normal Beasts?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 851 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample