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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 Andahl?

2. How many bodies are with Owen when he is discovered at the end of Chapter 12?

3. Where in Greece does James meet with Ann and Lindsay Keller in Chapter 11?

4. Who is the cult's victim in Hawa Mandir?

5. In Chapter 8, what does David Keller suggest he and James do in Frankfurt?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Singh say about the desert in Chapter 12?

2. According to Rowser in Chapter 11, what changes are happening in the Northeast Group.

3. What traumatic experience happens to Orville Benton in Chapter 14?

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

5. How does James seduce Janet Ruffing at the end of Chapter 9?

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

7. How does James learn the truth behind the CIA in Chapter 13?

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

9. How does Owen look in Chapter 12?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the ensemble that is James Axton's expatriate social scene. What collective philosophy do these people share, and for whence does this philosophy derive? In this essay, discuss the dynamic that exists within the group. Who are the most dominant figures in the group dynamic, and who feels like an outsider? Which couples are strong and which are clearly foundering? How is this made apparent?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the Language Cult and how it becomes a symbol in the novel. To what extent does the language cult exist outside of time and place? In what ways is it stateless and oddly innocent? In discussing the otherworldliness of the cult, determine what it represents to the people who search it out. What do these lost Americans long to find at the end of the search for the cult? To what extent does the cult represent a pre-American world?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about Owen Brademas and his function thematically in the narrative. Based on first impressions from the opening chapters, what does Owen value above all else in life? What does he want to achieve? Discuss how these objectives drive Owen to seek out the cult, and how his skills make him the most effective of the searchers. Why does he become paralyzed by the prospect of meeting the cult? How does his experience with them leave him?

(see the answer keys)

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