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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. Who is Del Nearing?

2. What does James steal from the fridge at his wife's apartment in Chapter 1?

3. What does James list out in Chapter 1 to annoy Kathryn?

4. At dinner in Chapter 3, the expatriates decide that traveling is like collecting what?

5. In Chapter 4, where does Owen think the cave people have gone?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. Why are the Axtons separated?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the character of Frank Volterra. What is his connection to the Axtons, and how does he find himself in the search of the language cult? Discuss how DeLillo paints Volterra with a different brush that the other characters. Is he, in essence, a caricature of the temperamental auteur director? How does Del Nearing's attachment to Volterra humanize him to a certain point?

Essay Topic 2

The Names takes place in a place and time in which new and unknown dangers are emerging for expat Americans. The novel finds clever and unnerving ways to illustrate these dangers. Write an essay in three parts dealing with the way DeLillo illustrates danger and fear in the novel:

Part 1) Discuss the new international reality that is emerging for Americans in the early 1980's. What is the state of the Cold War at this time? What events have illustrated the new danger posed by religious extremism? To what extent is James Axton's profession the quintessential creation of American expat culture in this time?

Part 2) James Axton is clearly a character what sits at the tip of the spear for international danger. What dangers exist for him throughout the novel? Discuss ambiguous characters, messages, and events that strike him as dangerous? What violent moment serves as the culmination of this nascent danger, and who does James think is responsible for it?

Part 3) Discuss the subterranean actions that place James Axton's life in danger throughout the novel. How has James been an unwitting pawn of the intelligence community? What was hunting him throughout the novel? How does he discover the true nature of his work?

Essay Topic 3

The place of America in the international community is a recurring motif in the narrative. How are all of the main characters - James Axton, Kathryn Axton, and Owen Brademas - at the back and call of this place? What new dangers are emerging from the ether in regards to Americans abroad? How is James Axton an operative of America in the hostile international world? How does Eliades represent the opposite, a spokesman and operative for a disgruntled world?

(see the answer keys)

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