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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 does VJ learn was with Victor earlier in the day?

2. How does Victor feel about what VJ reveals to him?

3. What did Janice Fay believe VJ did?

4. Why does Victor give up the idea of going to the police?

5. What is Marsha's reaction to VJ's revelations?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Marsha learn about Richie Blakemore?

2. What do Victor and Marsha decide about VJ?

3. What is Victor's reaction to what Marsha learned from VJ's school?

4. Why does VJ let his father out of imprisonment?

5. How do VJ and Victor interact, when they go to VJ's lab in Chapter 13?

6. What does Victor think about as he drives to work at the beginning of Chapter 9?

7. What conclusion does Marsha form about the security employees at VJ's lab?

8. Describe Marsha and Victor's conflicting views of VJ during Chapter 12.

9. What do the police do about the dead body Marsha finds when she arrives home?

10. When Victor returns to the lab, what does he try to convince VJ to do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss power in the novel.

1) What gives a person power in the novel? How does money affect power? How does technology affect power? How does emotion affect power?

2) How does VJ get what he wants during the novel? What methods of getting what he wants, like cooperation, does VJ reject? Why?

3) What is the relationship between Victor and VJ? Who has power in the relationship, and at what times? How does Victor defeat VJ?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate the ending of the novel.

1) Why does Victor choose to kill himself in the process of killing VJ? How is this decision appropriate or inappropriate?

2) Does VJ need to be killed? Is a violent death the best, or only, solution to the problem?

3) How is the manner of VJ's death appropriate to the story? What is the author trying to communicate through the manner of VJ's death?

4) What does the epilogue add to the novel? Why does the author introduce another super-intelligent child at the end of the book?

Essay Topic 3

Responsibility is an important aspect of Victor's relationship to VJ. Discuss responsibility in the novel.

1) What responsibilities does Victor have toward VJ, as his father? What additional responsibilities does Victor take on, by making the decision to genetically engineer VJ? How does Victor fulfill or shirk his responsibilities?

2) Is Victor's death at the end a consequence of his responsibility toward VJ as his creator?

3) As a parent, what are Marsha's responsibilities toward VJ? How does Marsha fulfill or shirk her responsibilities?

(see the answer keys)

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