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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 Umberto Christofoto Palanguez bring to the Arctic & European Fish Oil Company?

2. What does Beadley encourage the group they can do?

3. Why does Josella agree to the taking on of blind women for such a purpose?

4. What is the result of Bill's attempts with the sighted leader of the drunks?

5. What does Walter Lucknor claim the plants are doing when they strike their three sticks against their base?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the circumstances that resulted in Bill's hospitalization.

2. What clues does the narrator have that there is something wrong when he wakes in the hospital?

3. Explain why Bill feels a sense of relief at his new situation?

4. Do you think the narrator is right to leave the blind group in the lobby of the hospital, knowing they cannot see to get out?

5. Explain Bill's response to the argument at the gate between the sighted and the blind.

6. Describe the walking style of a triffid.

7. Give a brief explanation of the various speculations pertaining to the coming of the triffids.

8. Describe the scene where the narrator first learns of the blindness that plagues mankind.

9. Explain the difference between Josella's view of triffids and Bill's. Why are they do drastically different?

10. Explain the argument of Beadley that the world is better off after the comet than it was before.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The role of women drastically changes in the novel from pre-crisis to immediately following the crisis to long term. Explain this shift in roles. What were women prior to the event? How did that role change immediately following the comet? How did this again change when viewing long term goals of society? What is the new primary function of women in the new society? Does this differ greatly from the view of women prior to the catastrophe? In what way? Do you believe women could easily shift roles this way in reality? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Light is used as a metaphor for hope, freedom, and security throughout the novel. In what ways does the author use this metaphor? How does he show what this symbol stands for? Choose one instance of the use of light as a symbol. Explain the situation. What are the characters doing? How is the symbol used? What is light symbolizing? Why did the author choose light as this symbol?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter One, Bill is forced to use his sense of hearing as a replacement for his sense of sight. He experiences sounds that lead him to believe something is wrong, both in the hospital and in the world outside his door. Explain how the narrator uses sounds to discern this about his environment. What sounds are concerning to him? Why? What sounds does he listen for that indicate normalcy, and what does he discern when those sounds are not present? Does his emotional state rely on his sense of hearing? Why? What does this say about hearing as a replacement for sight? Why?

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