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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. How does Dwight want to think about people in the Northern hemisphere?

2. What happens that night at Peter's and Mary's house?

3. How long does Peter say the next trip of the Scorpion will probably take?

4. What weapons were used in the Russian-Chinese war?

5. What have Peter and Mary learned to do because of the shortages?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain Moira's answer that she will face the facts of life next September.

2. What is of special interest about the radio signals coming from around Seattle?

3. How does the story begin?

4. What does Moira learn about Dwight while touring the submarine?

5. How is Moira Davidson dealing with the eminent threat of death by radiation?

6. Why did governments resort to using nuclear weapons?

7. How had Dwight been warned of the possibility of the war?

8. How has the boisterous revelry of the townspeople changed over the past year?

9. Describe Moira's attitude toward life.

10. Describe what the USS Scorpion crew sees everywhere they go.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on suicide as a way of avoiding an otherwise very painful death. Include the moral aspects of suicide in general and explain whether or not you think there may be extenuating circumstances that make suicide acceptable.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the responsibility people have to others when taking any action. In your essay show how governments did not take into consideration anything but their own greedy desires, never once thinking how their nuclear attacks might affect the entire world. Take it down to a less grand level and write about how even small personal actions my affect not just ourselves but others as well.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about ON THE BEACH as a valuable resource for arguing against nuclear proliferation. In your essay include who should read the book as required reading. These people should be drawn from government and military sources, religious sources, and concerned individuals.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 590 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample