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. What happens when the Happars venture into Typee territory?

2. What do people own individually?

3. How is the fish catch divided among the Typees?

4. To whom does Tommo compare the appearance of the Typees favorably?

5. What does Tommo believe are in the packages the Typees bring back with them after a skirmish with the Happars?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Tommo's leg affect his relationship with the natives?

2. What happens after the second skirmish with the Happars?

3. What does Tommo say about relations between Typee husbands and wives?

4. How is the men's company different from the women's company for Tommo?

5. What does Tommo say about the natives' fishing expedition?

6. What does Tommo describe of the natives' cosmetics?

7. How do the Typees harvest coconuts, in Tommo's account?

8. What does Tommo say about the natives' musical arts?

9. Describe the practice of taboos among the Typees.

10. What kinds of animal life does Tommo find on the island with the Typees?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is "Typee" plotted, i.e. what questions or tensions are raised in the beginning to keep your interest, and how are the questions either resolved, or how do they change into other questions as the book proceeds? What are the predominant issues the book seems to be trying to resolve, and how does the book ultimately resolve them? Are new issues introduced? Are some issues left unresolved? How is resolution achieved, where there is resolution?

Essay Topic 2

After arranging his escape, Tommo is largely passive, ostensibly because of his leg, but possibly because of his personality. In what ways does Tommo act, and how do his actions change over the course of the book? E.g. in the beginning of the book, he is plotting to escape from the ship, in the end he is plotting to escape from Typee. How are these actions similar or different?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the relationships between society and nature in the novel. What different uses does nature have to the whites? To the natives? Do the whites and natives have different relationships with the natural world? How does Melville characterize the different perspectives?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 876 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample