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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapters 10-13.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is the film studio Ballard works for located?
(a) Shepperton.
(b) Swindon.
(c) Salisbury.
(d) Somerset.

2. According to Ballard, "For Vaughan, the car-crash and his own ______ had made their final marriage."
(a) Depression.
(b) Sexuality.
(c) Faith.
(d) Health.

3. According to Ballard, all who knew Vaughan accepted what about a car-crash?
(a) Its "perverse eroticism."
(b) Its "tragic flaw."
(c) Its "logical torture."
(d) Its "intellectual stimulation."

4. What does Ballard do for the week after being released from the hospital?
(a) Sleeps on the couch.
(b) Walks around the neighborhood.
(c) Sits on the veranda.
(d) Watches television.

5. As Ballard waits for someone to reassure him after the crash, what does he imagine firemen doing with carbon dioxide sprays?
(a) Spraying the spectators to punish them.
(b) Coiling dead bodies on the ground.
(c) Tracing obscene or humorous slogans.
(d) Enacting a grotesque simulation of violence.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of Catherine's secretary whom she asks Ballard to visualize her having intercourse with?

2. Who tells Ballard that there is "a certain moral virtue in being materialistic"?

3. Why did Ballard have his safety belt on when leaving his secretary, Renata, before the crash?

4. What is Vaughan's scientific subject?

5. Who dies as the novel opens?

(see the answer key)

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