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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. According to Owen in Chapter 5, what has America become?

2. Where does Volterra need to travel to meet a possible cult member in Chapter 6?

3. What location is Owen visiting when he meets the two strange men in the tomb caves?

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

5. In Chapter 6, Vosdanik explains that to the cult of lonely men, words are the vessels of what?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What strange coincidence does James notice at the end of Chapter 6?

5. Why are the Axtons separated?

6. Describe the awkward lunch at the beginning of Chapter 7.

7. What theory about the language cult does James present to Owen in Chapter 7?

8. Why is James ridiculed by his friends in the beginning of Chapter 1?

9. How has Charles Maitland changed of late?

10. What plan does Volterra have for his life after film?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In DeLillo's novel, objects and words take on symbolic value. Some of this becomes inchoate as a result of age and divine intent. Some of it is created in the mind of the observer. Write an essay discussing the significance of certain objects in the book. What individual is engrossed with this object, and what reasons does he or she give? What effect does this object have on characters? What divine significance does this object have in relation to other elements of the novel?

Part 1) The Acropolis

Part 2) The Cuneiform the archeologist hires a boy to read on a high precipice.

Part 3) The Ta Onomata boulder

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

The action of Don DeLillo's The Names largely centers on a group of westerners' search for the language cult that stalks Eurasia. Each of these men has a reason for seeking this death-cult, and each has tactics that yield varying success. Write an essay about the individual quests for the cult in the novel:

Part 1) Why does Frank Volterra want to find the death cult in The Names, and what is his intention when he does find them? Discuss how Volterra initially hears about the cult, and what tactic he uses to find them. What success does this yield? Why does the director give up?

Part 2) Why does James Axton want to find the cult? Discuss what other events in his life coincide with this dangerous quest. What does James discover about the cult, and how? How is his sense of sanity affected by this? What new fears and obsessions does the search evoke?

Part 3) Why does Owen Brademas want to find the death cult? How does his childhood relate to his goals in the quest? Discuss what tactics and skills make Owen Brademas the most successful of the searchers in the novel. Why, in the end, does Owen consider his search a failure?

(see the answer keys)

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