View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who are the five film actresses Seagrave devised an "abattoir of sexual mutiliation" for Vaughan's questionnaire?

2. How many passengers get trapped in the limousine after the crash at the junction of the eastern descent ramp of the flyover?

3. How does Vaughan position himself and Catherine in the backseat while Ballard watches them have sex?

4. At the Road Research Laboratory, who does Helen stare at "almost as if they were patients whom she hoped to treat"?

5. Where are Ballard, Catherine, and Vaughan when Catherine and Vaughan have sex in the backseat?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Ballard attracted to Gabrielle?

2. What type of questions from Vaughan's questionnaire is Ballard specifically drawn to?

3. Why does J.G. Ballard portray Vaughan's self-stimulation in the vehicle where a dentist recently died?

4. How do the prostitutes Vaughan picks up begin to change in appearance and why is it significant?

5. What kinds of pictures does Ballard find in the questionnaire and what do they signify?

6. When Ballard and Vaughan arrive at the accident site involving a minor accident, what do they discover?

7. Why is Seagrave's disappearance important to the plot?

8. What is Ballard's response to Catherine sleeping with Vaughan?

9. What is the purpose of Vaughan's questionnaire?

10. Describe Catherine's fantasies about Vaughan, how they pertain to Ballard, and their impact on her and Ballard's marriage.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Catherine in "Crash." As Ballard's wife, she plays a critical role in the novel. What motivates her as a character? Is she a flat or round character and why?

Essay Topic 2

In the novel, obsession controls, empowers, and destroys characters in their fixation with particular people, objects, and ideas. Choose 3 characters and discuss their obsessions. In particular, what or who are they obsessed with and why? How does their obsession change them? Give examples throughout the course of the novel to support your statements.

Essay Topic 3

Automobiles play a major role in the novel. Choose 2 characters and discuss their relationship to vehicles. What is their purpose in the novel and what are they a metaphor for? Make sure to define metaphor in your discussion.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 743 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample