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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who gave Inez her emergency contact in Jakarta?

2. What does Jack Lovett tell Jessie they are doing to get her to an airplane?

3. How many flat electroencephalograms are required for Janet to be pronounced dead?

4. An investigation into Jack Lovett's activities is spurred by reports he has contributed to the fall of what country's government?

5. Which of the following is not a malfeasance to which Lovett is connected?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author pointedly argues throughout DEMOCRACY that memory is the first casualty of public life. As such, the story of the novel, told in retrospect, is kept ambiguous to the reader. Write an essay on the frailty of memory, in three parts:

Part 1) The primarily philosopher of lost memory is Inez Victor. What examples does she give when explaining to a reporter that memory is the cost of public life? What has she lost from her own life?

Part 2) To what extent is the years-long relationship between Jack Lovett and Inez Victor an exercise in forgetfulness? What do they deny about their history and feelings, and how does this lead to an explosive event in Honolulu?

Part 3) In what way is the style in which Didion tells the story of the narrative an act of forgetfulness? How does her use of hypothetical language and constant qualification regarding facts create the sense of a history forgotten?

Essay Topic 2

Perhaps the most central relationship of DEMOCRACY is that between the author and the reader. Didion - and her alter ego, the narrator - continually indicates that she is not going to honor the unspoken agreement of this relationship. Write an essay about this relationship in three parts:

Part 1) In what respect is Democracy not the narrator's first choice for a novel? What did Didion supposedly attempt to write before she settled on the story of Inez Victor and Jack Lovett?

Part 2) The narrator regularly uses conditional and hypothetical language when describing events in the story. What does this indicate simultaneously about her relationship with those events and with the reader?

Part 3) The order in which the story of DEMOCRACY is told is not chronological. Why do you think Didion chooses to structure the story this way? What does it deny to reader and what does it provide?

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, Inez Victor offers two viewpoints regarding America's place in the world community. These viewpoints derive from our country's collective reaction to the war in Vietnam and are represented by the characters of Harry Victor and Jack Lovett. Write an essay about these opposing viewpoints in three parts:

Part 1) What is Harry Victor's attitude toward the Vietnam War? How does he think America should impact the world community? What should we foster and what should we avoid? To what extent is his viewpoint a moral viewpoint?

Part 2) How does Jack Lovett feel about the relationships among nations? How does his career reflect this attitude? Does he appear to have unifying

worldview? Are his actions purely pragmatic?

Part 3) In what way does the relationship between Lovett and Victor represent the friction between pragmatism and idealism? Does Inez Victor represent the American people, as such?

(see the answer keys)

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