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. To what contemporary author does the writing assignment Didion quotes in Chapter 2 refer?

2. To what song is Inez Victor dancing the famous WNBC footage?

3. At what American magazine did both Joan Didion and Inez Victor work?

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

5. Where does Inez eventually work with refugees?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the Victors deal with Jessie's heroin addiction?

2. What is Joan Didion's first memory of Jack Lovett and Inez Victor together?

3. How does the narrator of Democracy reveal herself in Chapter 2?

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

5. What cable is sent to Inez Victor on October 2, 1975?

6. What is Didion doing in 1975?

7. How does Didion characterize Jack Lovett's life?

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

9. What is Paul Christian's attitude regarding the shooting?

10. Why is Inez Victor confined to a room when she arrives in Hong Kong?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Living beneath the surface of the narrative is the end of the Vietnam War. In the first half of the novel, Didion makes explicit mention of the Fall of Saigon. Write an essay about this historical moment becomes incredibly important both thematically and in terms of the narrative. Which characters are personally involved in the end of the war? How does defeat in Vietnam ripple through the lives of the characters in the novel and through the history it dramatizes?

Essay Topic 2

Joan Didion 's style of writing is perhaps most often described as cold, objective, and bloodless. It reflects her background as a journalist. Write an essay in three parts, examining how her narrative style affects the way she presents the shattering events of Democracy. How does she deny her characters a clear emotional life? How does this affect the way these violent and passionate events occur? How does it affect the reader's reaction to them?

Part 1) Jessie Victor's drug addiction.

Part 2) Paul Christian's shootings.

Part 3) Inez Victor's affair and her decision to leave her family.

Essay Topic 3

The narrative of DEMOCRACY is largely centered around a few brief, shattering actions. Write an essay about three such actions in the story. From what do they derive, and what does their occurrence indicate about the characters of the novel? What unexpected consequences result from them? How, in the end, are they all connected?

Part 1) The Paul Christian shootings.

Part 2) Jessie Victor's stow-away trip to Saigon.

Part 3) The fall of Saigon.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 973 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample