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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 is the significance of the place Keith Landry goes after his visit?

2. What are Annie Baxter's thoughts about taking a lover?

3. What is Keith Landry wondering as he returns home?

4. What movement does Keith Landry hear about after dinner in Chapter 11?

5. What does Annie Baxter believe her husband uses work as an excuse for?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the relationship between Annie and Cliff Baxter.

2. Why does Keith Landry decide to leave town?

3. What advice does the pastor give Keith Landry?

4. What happens when Annie confronts Cliff Baxter?

5. What is Cliff Baxter's reaction when he hears that Keith Landry is back in town?

6. Describe the farm Keith Landry returns to in Spencerville.

7. Describe Keith Landry's experience at the Landry family Labor Day gathering.

8. What happens on the night of Keith Landry's meeting with Cliff Baxter?

9. How does the narrator describe the Porters' way of life?

10. What is Cliff Baxter's relationship with Sherry Kolarik?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Having just finished his work in the Cold War, Keith Landry returns home to find a new opposition with the brutal police chief. How much does this opposition prolong the Cold War Keith Landry had been part of fighting? Compare and contrast Cliff Baxter and the Soviet Union. Is Cliff Baxter a symbol of repressive regimes?

Essay Topic 2

This book was written in 1995, when the internet was just becoming a fact of life among Americans. How would this book be different if it took place today?

Essay Topic 3

What is Cliff Baxter's value as a villain? Is he a caricature, who just moves the action along, or does he represent something dangerous and also appealing about human nature? How doe Nelson DeMille characterize him, and what does he signify in the book? What does he elicit from other characters?

(see the answer keys)

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