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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. Where does the family eat their fast food?

2. According to Jack, how is Chakravarty's English?

3. What is Babette's father's name?

4. According to the video they watched in school, what happens when a rat is exposed to Nyodene D.?

5. What is Orest's last name?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jack follow Winnie Richards in Chapter 25? Are his reasons valid?

2. How did Babette convince Mr. Gray to let her try the Dylar?

3. According to Jack, what is the effect weather reports have on the elderly?

4. When the family does not want to cook, where do they go and what do they eat?

5. What is the Law of Ruins Jack describes?

6. What happened to Orest's quest to break the world record? What happens when he tries to do it?

7. When Jack asks Babette for Mr. Gray's real name, why does she refuse to tell him?

8. What is the (potentially wrong) answer Denise gives Babette when Babette wonders why UFOs always come from upstate?

9. What is Orest Mercator trying to do?

10. Why is Heinrich crouched outside on the roof at the beginning of Book 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Considering the first two Books of the novel, analyze the way DeLillo uses feelings of non-chalance and calm to characterize the Gladney family. Offer textual examples of how they behave during hectic, stressful, or chaotic situations and explain the fictional techniques (especially dialogue and setting) that help the author achieve this characterization.

Essay Topic 2

The Nyodene D. spill evokes real danger and expresses real anxiety on the part of DeLillo that Americans could be affected by such an "event". Jack even expresses the opinion that only the poor and exposed could be in danger from such things. Write an analytical essay that discusses disaster as a theme in this novel, citing specific textual examples to explain your ideas. How is this a reflection of the time when this book was written, and would it be different if DeLillo were writing today?

Essay Topic 3

DeLillo's plot/conflict structure can be considered an innovation. Describe how he advanced the plot/story events, developed the conflict and brought it to a climax. Would you consider it innovative? Why or why not? Be sure to offer specific examples that address both form and content.

(see the answer keys)

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