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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 is distinct about the writing style of Chapter 14?
2. In Chapter 13, Charles tells James that the Northeast Group has been giving intelligence to what group?
3. At the beginning of Chapter 9, what does Volterra tell Andahl is James' profession?
4. What does Andahl refused to divulge about the cult in Chapter 9?
5. What are Rowser's plans as he talks to James at the end of Chapter 11?
Short Essay Questions
1. What unsettling information does Ann Maitland tell James in Chapter 10?
2. How is Chapter 14 connected thematically to the rest of the novel?
3. How does DeLillo illustrate James' awkward relationship with his landlord in Chapter 10?
4. How did Del Nearing and Frank Volterra meet?
5. Describe the political argument that James and Eliades have in Chapter 10.
6. How does James seduce Janet Ruffing at the end of Chapter 9?
7. How does James follow up on his Mani discovery later in Chapter 8?
8. What unfortunate occurrence happens to David Keller in Chapter 13?
9. What does Singh say about the desert in Chapter 12?
10. How does James find a new sense of comfortable stasis at the end of the novel?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay about the relationship between James and Tap Axton. What do father and son do together throughout the novel, and how does the impending divorce affect this activity? What habits does Tap have that alienate him from James? Discuss whether DeLillo paints a picture of a father and son relationship that seems strong in any way. What other character seems more like a father figure to Tap?
Essay Topic 2
In the latter half of The Names, James Axton develops several female entanglements that serve as temporary place-fillers for his lost family. Write an essay about these three: Janet Ruffing, Del Nearing, and Ann Maitland. How does Ruffing fulfill his sexual needs as a man? How does Nearing fulfill his paternal needs after the essential loss of Tap? Discuss, lastly, how Ann Maitland provides the most complete relationship for him. What are the defining attributes of this relationship? How does their final moment in the novel resonate as particularly significant?
Essay Topic 3
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?
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This section contains 1,207 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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