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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. Where is Foyle forced to live on board the Nomad?

2. What does L.E.S. mean?

3. How do Jiz and Foyle escape the ice cavern in the Gouffre Martel?

4. What trade does Y'ang-Yeovil offer to Presteign?

5. What is the name of the head of psychiatry at the Combined Terran University hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Foyle learn about blue jauntes?

2. What happens in the relationship between the Inner Planets and Outer Satellites as a result of jaunting?

3. What is so significant about Jaunte's first jaunte?

4. Describe the steps Foyle takes in activating the Nomad's engines.

5. What is the truth about Foyle and Jiz's escape from the Gouffre Martel?

6. What is Foyle's response after Jiz removes his bandages on board the Saturn Weekender in Chapter 7, and what does Jiz tell him?

7. What does Foyle discover on board the Nomad when he returns to the Sargasso Asteroid?

8. What keeps Foyle from divulging information about the whereabouts of the Nomad when he is questioned at the Nightmare Theater?

9. What is the relationship between Presteign and Dagenham?

10. What is the relationship between Jiz and Sam Quatt?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One key component of the novel is the concept of jaunting. Discuss in detail whether the concept is plausible, whether it is better suited to fantasy than science-fiction, if Bester deploys this device convincingly, and whether its use comes across as a gimmick to further the plot or is a necessary part of the overall scheme of the book. Could the book have been written apart from the presence of jaunting?

Essay Topic 2

Torture occurs several times in The Stars My Destination. Foyle is questioned and tortured in Chapter 4. Discuss how torture, in Foyle's case, is designed to alter an internal reality to generate and external result. Discuss the ironic truth that what drives Foyle also protects him from giving in to torture. Explain how revenge has given Foyle the sense of purpose that was missing in the first chapter.

Essay Topic 3

In the last two chapters of the book, author Bester basically throws convention to the wind and attempts to describe what happens with Foyle in hyperbolic language and graphic representations of what is fundamentally indescribable. Discuss Bester's use of these tools, how effective you felt they were, and share an alternate way of communicating the same truths without using the same conventions Bester did.

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