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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 the Authority react to Wili's ploy?

2. Who drags Paul from his damaged vehicle?

3. What does Avery say Della has reported to him about Paul?

4. What justification does Allison give for her suspicion that the Authority will find Paul's home soon?

5. How do Paul and the other acquire power for their computers along the way to the Authority enclave?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Wili manipulate Della and Mike while they are at the demonstration of the power generator?

2. How does Wili predict where the embobbled tenement building will go?

3. Why does Wili decide to trust Mike?

4. Why does Kaladze say Wili should trust Mike?

5. Why does Mike contact Della, and what information is exchanged?

6. How and why do Mike and Wili demonstrate their new bobble generator?

7. How are Paul and the others able to travel to the Authority enclave in secret?

8. Why does Wili lose contact with Jill during the final approach to the embobbling position?

9. How does Della and Mike's relationship change while they are at Kaladze's camp?

10. How does Mike betray Della?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Authority is a world-spanning organization that maintains control over most of the globe through aggressive use of the bobbles, which it has exclusive access to. Although it ostensibly exists to maintain peace throughout the world, it also causes a considerable amount of human suffering and carries out various immoral acts.

1) Discuss what the Authority is, and how it came to power. Explain its organization, goals, and resources.

2) Describe the ways the Authority harms humanity through its restrictions on technology and its aggressive maintenance of the peace.

3) Explain how the Authority is able to maintain public support for its rule, despite its despotic activities and harsh restrictions.

Essay Topic 2

Paul recognizes quickly that Wili has a deep love of knowledge, a trait that connects them, and which allows Wili's capabilities to grow rapidly under Paul's tutelage. This passion is a critical element of the story and plays an important role in the denouement.

1) Explain how Paul recognizes Wili's love for knowledge, and why this trait interests him.

2) Discuss the impact of this trait on Wili's development and studies; explain how it positions him to take over for Paul later in the novel.

3) Describe some of the other characters and groups who share this trait, and discuss how they are presented in the novel. Is a love of knowledge presented as a universal good, a mixed good, or in a neutral light?

4) Explain the importance some characters predict, near the end of the novel, that the love of knowledge will have.

Essay Topic 3

The bioscientists are a group not unlike the Tinkers in their pursuit of knowledge. However, the Authority took issue with them some time before the beginning of the novel, and they have been forced to live underground, sometimes in a literal sense.

1) Describe the bioscientists as an organization, their structure, goals, and capabilities.

2) Discuss the reasons the Authority had for deciding to act against the bioscientists. How were these reasons similar to or different from those that cause them to act against the Tinkers?

3) Compare and contrast the bioscientists and the Tinkers in terms of their respective pursuits of knowledge.

4) The Authority blames the widespread plagues on the bioscientists. Write an assessment of this accusation, using evidence from the book.

(see the answer keys)

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