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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. What does Lovett say is the only way Harry and his associates believe something is true?

2. To what does Didion compare the effects of time in 1975?

3. During their 1975 visit in Kuala Lumpur, who does Inez say she speaks to every night?

4. Dwight Christian keeps a large collection of what for special occasions?

5. In the style of what English Victorian writer does Didion begin Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. What information about Paul Christian's crime does Didion reveal in Chapter 3?

2. Describe the scene at the Christian house that immediately precedes Inez's leaving Hawaii with Jack Lovett.

3. How does the narrator's reading of papers in 1975 reflect her feelings about time?

4. How does Jessie Victor Make her way to Vietnam?

5. Why does Billy Dillon not allow Inez to work with refugees?

6. In what way does Inez become comfortable in her own life over the course of the novel?

7. What is happening to Jack Lovett at the end of Chapter 1?

8. Describe Harry Victor's political career.

9. Why is the lie that Jack Lovett is in the military hard to swallow?

10. What does Janet Ziegler recall in her final conversation with Inez Victor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the Christian family. Using three members, discuss how they are outsiders to their traditional surroundings. How do they view the world of modern Hawaiian society? What are their business endeavors? To what extent are they always held remote from the rest of Hawaiian society? How does the local population view the Christian family?

Essay Topic 2

After the 1972 Presidential campaign, the Victor marriage is marred by overwhelming unhappiness. Write an essay about the marriage of Harry and Inez Victor and how it is pervaded by a sense of wasted talent and opportunity. What possibilities does Inez see for her life that she is not allowed to pursue? How does Harry react to his failure to win the Democratic nomination? In what ways are both Adlai and Jessie Victor products of this deep-seeded sense of waste?

Essay Topic 3

The actual plot of DEMOCRACY only begins about halfway through the novel. The preceding chapters provide reams of expository information and tantalizing clues as to what is to come. Write an essay analyzing the narrative structure of the novel. What does Didion achieve with the unorthodox structure? How does the first half of the novel prepare the reader for the plot to follow? What question does it raise? Are all of them answered by the end of the book?

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