View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to the narrator, with whom did Vaughan want to die in a collision?
(a) Catherine Ballard.
(b) James Ballard.
(c) Elizabeth Taylor.
(d) Dr. Helen Remington.

2. According to Ballard, the young wife of the man killed in the car crash stared at him with a look that resembled a ________in an Early Renaissance icon.
(a) Child.
(b) Madonna.
(c) Devil.
(d) Angel.

3. What does Helen do when Ballard first addresses her in the hospital?
(a) She screams at him.
(b) She laughs at him.
(c) She hits him.
(d) She ignores him.

4. Why is Ballard skeptical about Helen working for the Road Research Laboratory?
(a) Because he thinks she could get a better job as a doctor.
(b) Because he thinks that she is not qualified to work there.
(c) Because he thinks the work at the laboratory is ineffective.
(d) Because he thinks its too close to the accident that killed her husband.

5. What is Vaughan's scientific subject?
(a) Physics specialist in atom collision.
(b) Computer specialist in traffic systems.
(c) Chemistry specialist in dark matter.
(d) Biology specialist in human reproduction.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Ballard first take in a rental car to the scene of his accident that killed Helen's husband?

2. What kind of commercial did Ballard prepare that he hoped to use a well-known actress for?

3. As Ballard drives home with Catherine after being released from the hospital, how does the image of a car change for him after his accident?

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

5. Who did the man killed in the car crash with Ballard work for?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Karen and why is she significant?

2. How is the man killed in the crash with Ballard symbolic?

3. What does Ballard believe Helen's motives are for making love with him at the site of the accident and what is their sex act a metaphor for?

4. How does Ballard crash his car and why is it significant?

5. In the hospital, what does Ballard begin to do once he's mobile and how is it significant?

6. What is the chronology of the novel and why is it significant?

7. Why does Ballard recognize Dr. Robert Vaughan when he sees him with the camera in the parking garage and why is it significant?

8. How does the wife of the man killed in the crash with Ballard react to the crash and why is it significant?

9. Why is Dr. Robert Vaughan wanted by the police and how is it significant?

10. What are Ballard's injuries from his crash with the man and his wife and how does he respond to them?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 867 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample