View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What recommendation does the Captain make to Nick in a call in Chapter 23?

2. What news does Carlinsky give Nick in Chapter 26?

3. In Chapter 26, how does Nick explain the plane ticket purchased on his card to the FBI?

4. In Chapter 25, who does Nick pretend to be to get into Captain's hospital room?

5. Lady Bent is particularly well-known for holding strong against which adversaries?

Short Essay Questions

1. What request does the Captain make of Nick in Chapter 13?

2. Why does Nick decide to go to Winston-Salem in Chapter 25?

3. How does Nick convince Lorne Lutch to take the bribe in Chapter 18?

4. How is Nick's tryst in Chapter 15 with Jeannette odd?

5. What is odd about Monmaney and Allman's question is Chapter 14?

6. Describe the hotel that Nick goes to in Chapter 17.

7. What deal do Jeff Megall and Nick discuss in Chapter 17?

8. In Chapter 20, how does Nick rebut Senator Finisterre's cigarette criticism on Nightline?

9. How has Sven improved the anti-underage-smoking campaign in Chapter 13?

10. What do Allman and Monmaney find that prompts them to arrest Nick in this section?

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

Nick Naylor is portrayed in the novel as a man who is consistently marginalized by society not because of race or beliefs, but because he has allied himself with a deeply unpopular entity. Write an essay about this marginalization in three parts:

Part 1) How does the Prologue of the novel express the omnipresent antipathy Nick Naylor faces in life? What does society at large dislike about what he does? How has Nick adapted to this antipathy? What defenses has he developed?

Part 2) Discuss the relationship that exists among the members of the MOD Squad in the novel. What do the three of them discuss when they meet for lunch? What do they understand about each other's life that most of society cannot?

Part 3) Describe the public attitude that surround's Nick's work, and how this attitude lends credence to the abduction and attempted murder. Are death threats a regular part of Nick Naylor's life? What precautions does the Academy take regarding these omnipresent fears?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the characters of BR and Jeannette. What forewarning does the reader have that these characters are both deceptive and ambitious? Why does Nick fall prey to their lies even though he knows they are not to be trusted? Specifically, what strange actions does each character undertake over the course of the novel that seem unexplainable? How are they eventually explained by the final betrayal of the novel? What do they reveal about them?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,152 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample