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. How does Smithback manage to get into the library archives?

2. What does Smithback see in Rickman's desk drawer that prompts him to sign the provisions?

3. Why does Frock think Dr. Wright wants to go on with the Superstition party despite the murders?

4. In Chapter 62, whose body's does Pendergast reveal were found in the creature's lair?

5. In Chapter 58, Margo and Pendergast attempt to find a long, straight corridor to confront the creature for what reason?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Pendergast's initial shots against the creature fail to kill it?

2. What is Wright's major concern as he waits for rescue in his fourth floor office? What does this say about his character?

3. What epiphany does Margo have in Chapter 37 that makes her decide to run the indigenous plants from the Whittlesey crates packing material through the extrapolator program?

4. Why do Margo and Pendergast go into the secure area and take some of the packing material from Whittlesey's shipping crate in Chapter 52?

5. What contract does Smithback show off four weeks after the creature is killed? With whom does Smithback promise to share any proceeds from the contract?

6. What is the security set up in the museum? Why is it designed that way?

7. Who is Montague and what happened to him?

8. What does Smithback do in the subbasement in Chapter 54 that turns him into something like a hero?

9. Why does Coffey instruct Bailey to take command of D'Agosta's group in Chapter 49?

10. What is Dr. Frock's theory on the killer in the museum as he explains it to Pendergast in Chapter 29?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the Callisto Effect. What is the Callisto Effect? Who developed it? What evidence is there to support such a theory? Why do other scientists deny the existence of the Callisto Effect? What evidence is there against the theory? How does the creature who was killing people in the Museum of Natural History appear to prove the Callisto Effect? How does it disprove the theory?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the Museum of Natural History. How true to the real museum were the writers of this novel? Discuss what real visitors to the Museum of Natural History might hope to see. How do the real exhibits of the museum compare to the fictional exhibit discussed in this novel? Why did the writers chose to set their novel in such a setting? How does the setting of this novel affect the overall plot of the novel? How might the novel have been different if it were set somewhere else?

Essay Topic 3

Pick one of the following characters and discuss what motivates their actions, thoughts, and emotions:

1) Margo Green

2) William Smithback Jr.

3) Vincent D'Agosta

4) Gregory Kawakita

5) Lavinia Rickman

6) Dr. Frock

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,297 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample