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 does Jeff Megall send to pick up Nick instead of a Mustang in Chapter 17?

2. What were the boxes of condoms what Jeannette kept handing Nick during sex?

3. In Chapter 23, what PBS personality is the Naylor's favorite skull from Sven modeled?

4. What do the FBI agents find in Nick's apartment in Chapter 22?

5. Whom does Nick blame on the the investigation when Heather calls him in Chapter 23?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Nick convince Lady Bent to speak against trade regulations in Chapter 16?

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

3. What does Nick think truly has happened to him since the attack?

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

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

6. How does the film footage in Chapter 23 look?

7. What vision does Nick have at the beginning of Chapter 15?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The world of tobacco in Buckley's novel is divided into two groups: the old-school manufacturers and the slick image men who try to sell the industry to the country. Write a essay about this conflict, focusing on each side individually:

Part 1) The old style of tobacco men is represented most clearly by the character of the Captain. What does the old man value in business? Why does he take to Nick Naylor so fervently? How are his views considered antiquated by the new guard, and how does his death mark the passing of an era?

Part 2) The new style of image and branding is perhaps best represented by the slick, deceptive BR. What does he want to do to change the Academy, and how do these changes jive with the old style of men like the Captain? What kind of support does BR have at the Academy, and how is his power derived almost exclusively from lies and treachery?

Essay Topic 2

Nick Naylor is a dynamic protagonists who achieves dizzying heights and harrowing lows over the course of the novel. Write an essay on the scope of his rise and fall, dividing it into a first part about his high water mark. What is the greatest level of power that Nick achieves as a lobbyist in the novel? The second part should deal with his deepest low. What betrayals and freak incidents contribute to this precipitous fall? In summation, discuss what Nick learns from these events.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,135 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample