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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. Which Kennedy does Carmine Latta particularly hate?

2. What gadget does the FBI provide Oswald with?

3. When is Kennedy scheduled to be in Miami as in 12 August?

4. Aside from Fidel Castro, what is General Edwin Walker a verbal opponent of?

5. Why is the motorcade in Miami canceled?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lee Oswald try to expedite his meeting with Soviet agents after his suicide attempt?

2. Why does Lee Oswald try to kill himself in Moscow?

3. How does Lee meet George de Mohrenschildt?

4. Why is Oswald brought back to Moscow?

5. What role does writing play and Lee's life in Minsk?

6. Describe the interviews Oswald has in Moscow?

7. What do Frank and Raymo commiserate about on July 2nd?

8. What new plan is Frank Vasquez hatching on September 6th?

9. What calls Oswald's testimony into question in Minsk?

10. What strange items has the CIA curator provided Branch with?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The character of Lee Oswald in Libra is an ambiguous figure, one whose loyalty is never clear as he moves from place to place and relationship to relationship. Write a three-part essay analyzing the shifting loyalties Oswald illustrates throughout the novel:

Part 1) Discuss Oswald's defection to the Soviet Union. At what point in his life does he decide that he should live in a Communist country? How does Soviet society appeal to Lee Oswald, and why does he eventually decide to return to the United States?

Part 2) What is Lee Oswald's life like in New Orleans. Why does he become friends with right wingers life Bannister and Ferrie despite his leftist leanings? Discuss his reasons for working in Bannister's office and why these conservative players tolerate his pro-Castro literature.

Part 3) Discuss the mindset that Oswald displays as he waits in his jail cell following Kennedy's murder. How does he rationalize his participation in the murder plot? What defense does he think he can present to authorities? How does this represent a fractured psyche?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the character of Marguerite. How does Don DeLillo use her to frame the story, and to what extent does she reemerge as a sort of Greek chorus, commenting on Lee's fate? Why do her passages often involve the first person? Analyze her personality and neuroses: how do they reveal an ability to see the world as it is?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about insanity and disassociation in Libra. What mechanisms does Lee Oswald use to assume false identities, and how does this allow him disassociate himself from his actions? Discuss how Lee's view of the world becomes skewed. What delusions does he desperately hold on to? What false patterns does he begin to see in everyday life, and how does this fuel his willingness to kill Kennedy?

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