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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 Jack name the horse he steals?

2. What did Dick, Bob, and Jack get as their first job?

3. Why does Trinity close a second time?

4. Who takes Enoch to the ferry?

5. Who was with Jack when he met Churchill?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Jack meet Eliza?

2. Why did Daniel begin studying Natural Philosophy?

3. How does the doctor help Jack?

4. What happened to make Daniel upset with Hooke's experiments?

5. What frightens Jack in Backboden?

6. What does Eliza hope to sell at a fair?

7. How does Daniel meet Leibniz?

8. What does Drake think of the London fire?

9. How is Leibniz's mine different from other mines?

10. Why does Daniel make a hole in a roof?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are a number of different settings in this book. Describe some of these settings. Why might Stephenson have chosen these settings for this plot to take place?

Essay Topic 2

Despair was an emotion that affected a number of the characters in this book. Which characters were most affected by despair, and how did this change the course of the plot branches they were involved in?

Essay Topic 3

Symbolism is a very prevalent literary device used by Neal Stephenson. What are some of these symbols, and how does their presence affect the course of the plot?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 536 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample