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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 Lee worry about going to Minsk at the end of the Moscow chapter?

2. Which Kennedy does Carmine Latta particularly hate?

3. Why does the post office become suspicious of Lee in Fort Worth?

4. In New Orleans, what is Lee considering doing regarding Marina?

5. What did the U-2 pilot captured in Russia fail to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lee have a falling out with the FBI in New Orleans?

2. Describe the interviews Oswald has in Moscow?

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

4. Why is Oswald brought back to Moscow?

5. What money problems is Jack Ruby facing on August 12th?

6. What does Oswald do in Dallas prior to killing Kennedy?

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

8. How does the move to Fort Worth affect Lee and Marina's marriage?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As the catalyst for the Kennedy assassination, Win Everett is a strangely benign and ambiguous figure. In an essay, discuss the grievances he expresses regarding the Kennedy administration. What does he want his fake assassination to achieve? Based on these goals, does Everett seem left or right in his political leanings? Is he an inherently violent man?

Essay Topic 2

In Libra, individuals resort to violence when they feel trapped and marginalized in their lives. Discuss this striking out that occurs when characters feel they have no other options in a three-part essay:

Part 1) What indignities and profession setbacks has Win Everett suffered prior to the events of the novel? Why does he feel he has no voice in the intelligence community? Discuss how he decides staging an assassination attempt will remedy these injustices.

Part 2) Discuss the dreams and hopes that Lee Oswald has throughout the novel, and how their failure leads him to consider murder as an alternative. What purpose does the assassination serve for him personally? How does he feel empowered?

Part 3) What personal challenges is Jack Ruby facing when DeLillo introduces him near the end of the novel? What tactics does he use to avoid complete failure? What role does the murder of Oswald play in his personal redemption?

Essay Topic 3

The novel Libra begins with a single CIA man having a plan to fake an assassination attempt and bringing two colleagues on board. Write an essay about each of these three men. What is each man's vested interest in this plan? What is he revenging? What goal does he wish to attain? In the end, how does this man lose control of the people he brings on board with the plot? What becomes of him?

Part 1) Everett

Part 2) Parmenter

Part 3) Mackey

(see the answer keys)

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