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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 distinguishes Babette from Jack's other wives?

2. Whom does Jack follow around campus?

3. What is the name of the German book Jack sees at Howard's?

4. Who returns home in Chapter 29 and begins throwing things out of his/her closet?

5. Denise is preoccupied by her mother's use of (or lack of use of) what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Babette convince Mr. Gray to let her try the Dylar?

2. Whom does Jack give the sample of Dylar to, and why?

3. What is Orest Mercator trying to do?

4. According to Jack, why does this family not have to worry about evacuating or being affected?

5. Why is Denise concerned about Babette going running, and what does she do about it?

6. Why does Jack follow Winnie Richards in Chapter 25? Are his reasons valid?

7. What is the condition Babette has, for which she is taking Dylar.

8. When Jack asks Babette for Mr. Gray's real name, why does she refuse to tell him?

9. When Murray and Jack discuss the weird feelings they have about Howard, what are some of the things they mention that just do not feel right?

10. Who is Willie Mink?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Another critique of dominant society that DeLillo offers in this novel is Dylar, a fictional drug that is as absurd as it is plausible. Consider Dylar on its symbolic literal and symbolic levels, and discuss how this pharmaceutical affects these characters, and what DeLillo wants to say about a reliance on designer prescription drugs. Was DeLillo prescient? Based on your research into medications, are there drugs on the market like Dylar?

Essay Topic 3

The Nyodene D. spill evokes real danger and expresses real anxiety on the part of DeLillo that Americans could be affected by such an "event". Jack even expresses the opinion that only the poor and exposed could be in danger from such things. Write an analytical essay that discusses disaster as a theme in this novel, citing specific textual examples to explain your ideas. How is this a reflection of the time when this book was written, and would it be different if DeLillo were writing today?

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