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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. At dinner in Chapter 3, the expatriates decide that traveling is like collecting what?

2. What information does Kathryn give about the murder victim at the beginning of Chapter 4?

3. What event precipitated the separation of the Axtons?

4. About what does James needle Kathryn at the beginning of Chapter 4?

5. What one aspect of Owen's experience are the men of his story interested in?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Owen uncomfortable talking about the Feast of the Virgin in Chapter 2?

2. How does Kathryn rise quickly in Owen Brademas's dig?

3. Why are the Axtons separated?

4. What does James Axton do in Europe?

5. Describe Owen Brademas.

6. What strange coincidence does James notice at the end of Chapter 6?

7. How do Kathryn and James discuss their relationship in Chapter 2?

8. Why does James Axton like having late-night talks with Owen and Kathryn?

9. In Chapter 4, what plan does Kathryn have for after her dig ends?

10. Describe the tiff that Charles Maitland and James have at the end of Chapter 7.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Don DeLillo's novel deals with the notion of marriage in the latter half of the twentieth century by observing several married people dealing with issues of modern marriage. Write an essay about three such individuals. How does each individual feel about the marriage? How do they deal with the temptations involved in living abroad? How do these decisions affect the marriage? Discuss the state of the marriage at the end of the novel:

Part 1) James Axton

Part 2) Ann Maitland

Part 3) Janet Ruffing

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the marriage and separation of James and Kathryn Axton. How did their marriage affect each others individual life and goals? What state is the marriage in when the novel begins, and how did it reach this point? Discuss how Kathryn and James' personalities and lifestyles change after the separation. What idiosyncrasies are revealed as a result? What finally breaks the marriage apart for good, and how does the veneer of cordiality disappear as a result?

Essay Topic 3

The Names takes place in a place and time in which new and unknown dangers are emerging for expat Americans. The novel finds clever and unnerving ways to illustrate these dangers. Write an essay in three parts dealing with the way DeLillo illustrates danger and fear in the novel:

Part 1) Discuss the new international reality that is emerging for Americans in the early 1980's. What is the state of the Cold War at this time? What events have illustrated the new danger posed by religious extremism? To what extent is James Axton's profession the quintessential creation of American expat culture in this time?

Part 2) James Axton is clearly a character what sits at the tip of the spear for international danger. What dangers exist for him throughout the novel? Discuss ambiguous characters, messages, and events that strike him as dangerous? What violent moment serves as the culmination of this nascent danger, and who does James think is responsible for it?

Part 3) Discuss the subterranean actions that place James Axton's life in danger throughout the novel. How has James been an unwitting pawn of the intelligence community? What was hunting him throughout the novel? How does he discover the true nature of his work?

(see the answer keys)

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