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

2. What is the person parked behind Ballard at the scene of the accident that killed Helen's husband doing?

3. Where does Ballard take one of the three prostitutes to?

4. What does Helen tell Ballard about why she's at Northolt?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Who is with Dr. Helen Remington in the hospital and why is it significant?

4. 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?

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

6. What kind of car does Ballard buy after his accident and what does it signify?

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

8. Who is Karen and why is she significant?

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ballard details the urban landscape throughout the novel, from the car impound to the airport flyover, the abandoned lot to the parking garage. Choose 2 urban landscapes and discuss their purpose in the novel. What do they represent for the characters? How do the characters respond to these landscapes?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss surveillance as a major theme in the novel by comparing two characters.

1) How do these characters survey others?

2) What are the motives for the characters' surveillance?

3) What do the characters learn by surveying others?

4) What devices, mechanical or otherwise, does Ballard use as instruments of surveillance?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast Ballard, the author, with his eponymous character.

1) What are the similarities and differences between the author and his creation?

2) Why did Ballard name his protagonist after himself?

(see the answer keys)

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