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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 the first thing Singh asks Owen in Chapter 12?

2. Which of the following items is among the foods James and Eliades eat in Chapter 10?

3. Based on the revelations of the novel, who most likely tried to shoot James?

4. The second time James goes to the Mani in Chapter 8, who does he learn passed through the area recently?

5. What city is James in at the end of Chapter 9?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does James Axton learn in Bombay early in Chapter 11?

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

4. How is Chapter 14 connected thematically to the rest of the novel?

5. How does Owen look in Chapter 12?

6. What information does Andahl give about the cult in Chapter 9?

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

8. What prank do the Kellers and James try to play on Hardeman in Chapter 11?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 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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