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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapters 1-2.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Ballard at the end of Chapter 2, the radiator grills of their cars resembled what?
(a) A "protective grimace."
(b) A "positive force."
(c) A "perverse union."
(d) A "peaceful sleep."

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

3. The firemen who cut Ballard's door from its hinges looked like what according to Ballard?
(a) Actors in a one-act play.
(b) Assistants of a gored bullfighter.
(c) Accomplices in a jewelry heist.
(d) Athletes in a football game.

4. Who dies as the novel opens?
(a) Catherine Ballard.
(b) James Ballard.
(c) Dr. Robert Vaughan.
(d) Dr. Helen Remington.

5. What kind of airline pilot removes the young wife from the crash with Ballard?
(a) Arab.
(b) French.
(c) Royal.
(d) Pacific.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does Ballard repeat several times in his description of the car crash at the beginning of the book?

2. As Ballard is taken to the hospital after his crash, he recalls that "Vaughan collected the _____of ________nurses in his photographic albums."

3. According to the narrator, with whom did Vaughan want to die in a collision?

4. What is the name of Ballard's wife?

5. On their driving excursions to look for accident sites, what does Vaughan describe to Ballard?

(see the answer key)

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