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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 two talking points does Naylor cite in Chapter 1's call to a dubious periodical?

2. At the end of Chapter 5, how much money does Naylor say the Academy is committing to a campaign to stop underage smoking?

3. What does the MOD Squad regularly sneak Nick in Chapter 12?

4. What plan does the Captain tell Naylor that BR has come up with in Chapter 6?

5. In Chapter 9, what does Heather tell Nick is the topic of her article?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the transfixed moment Naylor experiences at the end of Chapter 3.

2. Describe Budd Rohrabacher.

3. How have Naylor's fortunes changed when he returns to the Academy at the beginning of Chapter 7?

4. How does the Academy respond to the death threat in Chapter 9?

5. What ominous assignment does BR give Naylor at the end of Chapter 1?

6. Why was Nick Naylor fired as a television reporter?

7. How did Bobby Jay Bliss find his way to SAFETY?

8. How is Nick taken hostage in Chapter 11?

9. How does Heather portray Nick in her article?

10. How does Oprah betray Naylor at the beginning of Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Christopher Buckley uses a convention in the novel that was popular both with Shakespeare and Dickens where he pointedly gives his character's names that obviously reflect their nature. Write an essay in which you choose three characters for whom this is the case. What essential part of each character does his or her name reflect? Does the name act as a forewarning about the character to the reader or does the name's meaning only become clear after the fact?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the Academy of Tobacco Studies. Begin by analyzing its name, how it is itself an act of brazen deception. Who founds the Academy, and what historical event in the late 1950's precipitates its founding? At the beginning of the novel, what is the public perception of the Academy and Nick as a representative of it? In summation, discuss how the Academy serves as a symbol for all lobbyists in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Thank You for Smoking is in many respects a satire on the nanny-state that developed in America in the mid-1990's. Write an essay about how the efforts of the "gaspers" reflect the domestic policies of the Clinton years. How are characters like Senator Finisterre and Gordon Craighead portrayed in the novel? Are they protecting Americans, in Buckley's opinion, or curtailing their freedoms? What was happening in America at the time that this novel was published that is reflected in the narrative?

(see the answer keys)

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