View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is on the motorboat the sub spots?

2. When do Broken Hill and Perth go out because of the radiation?

3. Where is Albury that has a suspected case of radiation sickness?

4. Who says about Swain that if it had been him and the fishing was good that day, and it was his last day, he wouldn't come back either?

5. After the Pastoral Club, what do John and Peter have?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the surprise Moira has for Dwight when they meet for lunch.

2. What condition does Peter put on his continuing service in the Navy?

3. What does John Osbourne tell Peter when he asks about how much more time they have?

4. How does being in the submarine compare to racing the Ferrari to John?

5. What has Moira managed to locate that makes Dwight happy enough to drift off to sleep?

6. Explain what prevents Dwight from going fishing for trout before September 1st.

7. Why does John say his uncle, Sir Froude, still appears to be healthy?

8. How does John say the sickness goes near the end?

9. How is John Osbourne able to race his car so much?

10. Why do things begin to slow down in Melbourne?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the pointlessness of using alcohol or drugs to avoid facing realities. Mention how people in the novel first started having boisterous parties with lots of alcohol consumption but later realized that it was not helping to solve the problem. Turn you essay to people who attempt to use mind altering substances as a way of dealing with problems of a much smaller scale than the extreme problem of ON THE BEACH.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the value of friendships. Using John and Peter as examples, write about the support one gets from making good friendships in life. Sometimes family is not near or for some reason cannot offer the support a good friend has to offer.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay on living out your dreams. John Osbourne in the novel actually missed many years of excitement and pleasure by not racing cars until it was almost too late. In your essay talk about following your dreams because all of life is uncertain anyway.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 666 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample