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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. Why does Dwayne think about a particular family member in Chapter 6?

2. What does Kilgore see while in the bathroom stall?

3. What is Dwayne's medical condition mentioned in Chapter 1?

4. What happens after the newspapers pick up a comment Kilgore makes to the police?

5. Why does Kilgore believe the fan letter was written by a child?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the two principle characters of the novel and how are they presented in Chapter 1?

2. What does the scene between Dwayne and his pet dog, Sparky, infer about Dwayne's character?

3. How did Celia, Dwayne's wife, kill herself?

4. What is the irony of Kilgore browsing in the pornography shop in New York?

5. What is Kilgore's counter argument to the driver's stance on the need for conservation of natural resources?

6. What is the plot of the science fiction novel Kilgore comes up with while watching films at the pornography theatre?

7. Why does Kilgore think Americans are greedy?

8. What do the illustrations in Chapter 1 do for the tone of the chapter?

9. How is the Preface in Breakfast of Champions presented in terms of genre?

10. What does Dwayne do in Chapter 4 that alludes to his increasing mental instability?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

After Dwayne's fateful reading of Kilgore's Now It Can Be Told, he accosts numerous people in a violent rampage. Relate what is known about the plot of Kilgore's novel and how it affects Dwayne who is in a critical mental state. Assess the plot of Kilgore's novel and how Dwayne interprets it in order to explain why Dwayne embarks on his rampage after reading it.

Essay Topic 2

Describe Breakfast of Champions in literary terms. How does is transcend conventional drama in genre, plot construction, character development, and even narration? Cite specific examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Rabo, Beatrice and Patty are introduced as characters in the hotel lounge scene and their conversation becomes the focus of Chapter 19. Up until this chapter, The Narrator's claim that no one character is more important than any other character has been building. Support this claim - that all characters in any work are of equal importance - with Rabo, Beatrice, Patty and their conversation.

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