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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. In Chapter 8, what is Volterra unsure of regarding his possible documentary?

2. What is James doing when he hears gunshots in Chapter 13?

3. Who is the character of Orville Benton based on?

4. Why is James Axton in Bombay at the beginning of Chapter 11?

5. What does Del tell James about Volterra's intention regarding his film in Chapter 10?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Owen look in Chapter 12?

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

5. What point about the murders does Andahl make in Chapter 9?

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

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

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

9. How did Del Nearing and Frank Volterra meet?

10. How does Owen experience the murder in Chapter 12?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Write an essay about the Northeast Group, what it ostensibly does as a company, how it is represented in the novel, and what it, in reality, is a functionary of. What is James Axton's role within the Northeast Group? What other character is his contact, and how does this character represent a strange intensity unusual for a private company? What does the Group do in the novel, and how are its true functions slyly revealed tot he reader and James Axton alike? What is the fallout?

Essay Topic 3

A central theme of Don DeLillo's The Names is the mystical and broad meaning of language. In this novel, language and words not only contain meaning but also a sort of divine truth. Write an essay in three parts about the way DeLillo deals with truth in the novel:

Part 1) Owen Brademas is the major character with the most passionate connection to language in the novel. Discuss what influences in his life, beginning with his childhood, have contributed to this connection. What does he want to do with his life, and how do words become part of this? What is the purpose of ancient words, in his viewpoint?

Part 2) Midway through the novel, the mysterious Vosdanik explains the significance of words to the mysterious cult. Describe the role of language to the lonely men of the desert. Why are they obsessed with them? Historically, what has been the significance of words to spiritual acolytes?

Part 3) What is the methodology of the language cult? Why do they commit their murders? What divine extreme are they reaching for? Citing the words of Vosdanik, Andahl, and Singh, discuss the meaning of the cult in the world of the novel. Are they the touchstone of love of language in The Names?

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