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. Who, according to Ballard, "read the answer to her unspoken questions in the scars on my legs and chest" in the hospital?
(a) His doctor.
(b) His mistress.
(c) His wife.
(d) His nurse.

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

3. According to Ballard, Vaughan's relations with women were all governed by what?
(a) "Obsessive games."
(b) "Violent fantasies."
(c) "Repressed desires."
(d) "Sexist ideas."

4. What does Helen tell Ballard about why she's at Northolt?
(a) She tells him she's being interviewed by the police.
(b) She tells him she's looking for Vaughan.
(c) She tells him she's looking for her husband's car.
(d) She tells him she's filing charges against him.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Ballard note about the Lincoln Continental Vaughan drives?

2. Who does Ballard's wife Catherine tell him he looks like in the hospital?

3. What happens to Ballard three days after his surgery in the hospital?

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

5. What kind of business has Catherine started up with one of her boyfriends?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ballard begin renting cars and what do they signify?

2. What does the prostitute Ballard hires share in common with his wife and his lover and what do they show about Ballard's character?

3. What kind of pleasure did Vaughan derive from car crashes and how is it significant?

4. How does Ballard regard his accident and why is it significant?

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

6. Describe Ballard and Catherine's marriage and explain its relevance to the novel.

7. What is Helen Remington doing at the impound yard when Ballard returns to survey the damage to his car and what does it show about her character?

8. How does Dr. Robert Vaughan interrupt Ballard's rendezvous with the prostitute and why is it important?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 829 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample