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. Where are Ballard, Catherine, and Vaughan when Catherine and Vaughan have sex in the backseat?

2. Who does Vaughan want Ballard to introduce him to?

3. What do the subjects who completed Vaughan's questionnaire all have in common?

4. Who give Vaughan a set of passkeys so that he could take cars from the airport parking lots?

5. What does Ballard notice about the crowd that gathered at the junction of the eastern descent ramp of the flyover?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kinds of photos are in the album Vaughan shows Ballard at Seagrave's house and what does Ballard notice about them?

2. What kinds of pictures does Ballard find in the questionnaire and what do they signify?

3. How does Vaughan pose the prostitutes for his photographs and why?

4. What type of questions from Vaughan's questionnaire is Ballard specifically drawn to?

5. Why is Ballard attracted to Gabrielle?

6. Why does J.G. Ballard portray Vaughan's self-stimulation in the vehicle where a dentist recently died?

7. What is Ballard's response to Catherine sleeping with Vaughan?

8. Why doesn't Ballard intervene on Elizabeth Taylor's behalf when he knew what Vaughan was capable of attempting to hurt her?

9. How do the prostitutes Vaughan picks up begin to change in appearance and why is it significant?

10. How does Gabrielle respond to Ballard's staring at the scars on her legs and how does Ballard interpret her response?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the uses of technology in "Crash."

1) What is the role of technology in the characters' lives?

2) How do the characters respond to and identify with technology?

3) How is technology a metaphor for evolution?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the body as a major theme in the novel. Make sure you define theme in your discuss and use specific examples to address each of the following:

1) How does Ballard describe the human body in terms of its purpose and function?

2) Choose 3 characters and detail how their bodies are affected by violence?

3) Compare Ballard's description of the human body with the body of a car. What are their similarities and differences?

Essay Topic 3

Automobiles play a major role in the novel. Choose 2 characters and discuss their relationship to vehicles. What is their purpose in the novel and what are they a metaphor for? Make sure to define metaphor in your discussion.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 728 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample