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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 descriptor does Andahl use to describe the nature of the cult in Chapter 9?

2. What is Janet Ruffing doing when James decides to sleep with her in Chapter 9?

3. Why does Eliades say he wants to have dinner with James in Chapter 10?

4. In the beginning of Chapter 10, David Keller cannot understand why he misses what?

5. What are James and Ann doing at the end of Chapter 13?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does DeLillo illustrate James' awkward relationship with his landlord in Chapter 10?

2. What admission does James make to Lindsay Keller in Chapter 13?

3. In Chapter 8, what does James see in Mani that shakes him up?

4. How does James follow up on his Mani discovery later in Chapter 8?

5. What offer does David Keller make James in Chapter 8, and how does James respond?

6. How has Rowser become more paranoid in Chapter 11?

7. What suspicions does James have about Eliades in Chapter 13?

8. Describe the political argument that James and Eliades have in Chapter 10.

9. What unsettling information does Ann Maitland tell James in Chapter 10?

10. What unfortunate occurrence happens to David Keller in Chapter 13?

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

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

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?

(see the answer keys)

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