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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. Where does Denise find Babette's Dylar bottle?

2. Who is Bee's father?

3. Which child's incessant crying necessitates a trip to the doctor?

4. When the family sees this person on TV, they are surprised and scared.

5. How does Jack describe his German teacher's complexion?

Short Essay Questions

1. Babette's class at the Church is made of what kind of people learning what activities?

2. Why does the chancellor suggest that Jack should change his persona, and what does he suggest?

3. Why did they evacuate the grade school in Chapter 9?

4. Why is Bob Pardee passing through town?

5. What is so shocking about Jack's trouble with German?

6. Who makes up the group of teachers in the pop culture department?

7. Why do they bring Wilder to the doctor in Chapter 16?

8. Why does Jack think the Treadwells did not ask for help when they were lost?

9. Describe how Murray interacts with Jack and Babette at the supermarket.

10. What kind of exercise does Babette do? Does Jack join in?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an analytical essay that explains and contextualizes the ways this family communicates with each other. Do they all communicate in the same way? Does anyone in the family communicate differently? Be sure to include specific exploration of DeLillo's dialogue as a fictional technique that demonstrate what these various communications styles mean thematically.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Jack's wives. Write an essay that describes Dana, Janet, Tweedy and Babette in turn, and explains the ways in which they are similar or different. Why did Jack want to marry them? What caused conflicts in their marriages? What does this show readers about Jack?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the Airborne Toxic Event with a real crisis--Wilder's tricycle trip through traffic at the end of the book. How does DeLillo present each story event and characterize the family's reaction? What are the structural differences (as in, when each event happens in the chronology of the novel) and what do you think DeLillo wants the reader to think at these two times? What are the effects of these two crisis situations on the family members and what do they reveal about who these people are? What is DeLillo's larger point in contrasting such a small, personalized event with one that involved the whole town?

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