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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 does James list out in Chapter 1 to annoy Kathryn?

2. What business does Volterra want to run when his film career ends?

3. What offer does James make to Charles in Chapter 4?

4. In Chapter 5, what does James say that Lindsay Keller avoids doing?

5. What country is David Keller going to be air-dropped into in Chapter 5?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. According to Owen in Chapter 5, Why does the world hate America?

3. How does Kathryn rise quickly in Owen Brademas's dig?

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

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

6. How is Rowser's lifestyle strange given his position?

7. What does James Axton do in Europe?

8. What explanation of the language cult's motives does Vosdanik offer in Chapter 6?

9. How has Charles Maitland changed of late?

10. Describe Tap Axton.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

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

A central theme of Don DeLillo's The Names is the mystical and broad meaning of language. In this novel, language and words not only contain meaning but also a sort of divine truth. Write an essay in three parts about the way DeLillo deals with truth in the novel:

Part 1) Owen Brademas is the major character with the most passionate connection to language in the novel. Discuss what influences in his life, beginning with his childhood, have contributed to this connection. What does he want to do with his life, and how do words become part of this? What is the purpose of ancient words, in his viewpoint?

Part 2) Midway through the novel, the mysterious Vosdanik explains the significance of words to the mysterious cult. Describe the role of language to the lonely men of the desert. Why are they obsessed with them? Historically, what has been the significance of words to spiritual acolytes?

Part 3) What is the methodology of the language cult? Why do they commit their murders? What divine extreme are they reaching for? Citing the words of Vosdanik, Andahl, and Singh, discuss the meaning of the cult in the world of the novel. Are they the touchstone of love of language in The Names?

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