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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 country is Volterra likely in, in Chapter 5?

2. How many people did Owen Brademas's dig start with?

3. In Chapter 7, what does James accuse Owen of doing?

4. In Chapter 5, where is Anand planning to go soon?

5. What type of church did Owen attend as a child?

Short Essay Questions

1. What story does Owen tell about a cave in Chapter 2?

2. How has Kathryn Axton changes since separating from James?

3. How do Kathryn and James discuss their relationship in Chapter 2?

4. Describe Kathryn and James' argument in Chapter 5?

5. Why is Owen uncomfortable talking about the Feast of the Virgin in Chapter 2?

6. How has Charles Maitland changed of late?

7. What indication exists in Chapter 1 that relations are strained between James and Kathryn?

8. In Chapter 4, what plan does Kathryn have for after her dig ends?

9. Describe the tiff that Charles Maitland and James have at the end of Chapter 7.

10. How is Owen haunted by his childhood memories of religion?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the marriage and separation of James and Kathryn Axton. How did their marriage affect each others individual life and goals? What state is the marriage in when the novel begins, and how did it reach this point? Discuss how Kathryn and James' personalities and lifestyles change after the separation. What idiosyncrasies are revealed as a result? What finally breaks the marriage apart for good, and how does the veneer of cordiality disappear as a result?

Essay Topic 2

In The Names, Don DeLillo sets up two mysteries that seem at one point to be connected. Write an essay discussing the reality behind both mysteries and how DeLillo juxtaposes them. Which two entities are aware of James Axton, and which one specifically attempts to harm him? What inclinations does he have that either of these entities is on to him? Which entity does Eliades belong to? How the reality behind either entity revealed in the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the Northeast Group, what it ostensibly does as a company, how it is represented in the novel, and what it, in reality, is a functionary of. What is James Axton's role within the Northeast Group? What other character is his contact, and how does this character represent a strange intensity unusual for a private company? What does the Group do in the novel, and how are its true functions slyly revealed tot he reader and James Axton alike? What is the fallout?

(see the answer keys)

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