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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. On what aspect of news stories regarding southeast Asian turmoil does Didion generally focus?

2. What mistake happened at a Nevada detonation Lovett mentions in Chapter 1?

3. Where does Inez eventually work with refugees?

4. What does Jack Victor jokingly call Inez because of her careful word choice?

5. Who is the witness at the wedding of Inez and Harry Victor?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jessie return to the United States?

2. Why does Harry Victor defend Adlai's returning to school?

3. Why is the helicopter engineer returning to Vietnam?

4. What prompts Inez to reflect on her life in Chapter 9?

5. What does Billy Dillon want from Frank Tawagata?

6. How are Jack Lovett and Inez Victor reunited in Chapter 11?

7. How does Didion characterize Jack Lovett's life?

8. Why does Billy Dillon not allow Inez to work with refugees?

9. What absurd process is happening involving American officials in Vietnam?

10. What is the purpose of Paul Christian's room at the YMCA?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Joan Didion 's style of writing is perhaps most often described as cold, objective, and bloodless. It reflects her background as a journalist. Write an essay in three parts, examining how her narrative style affects the way she presents the shattering events of Democracy. How does she deny her characters a clear emotional life? How does this affect the way these violent and passionate events occur? How does it affect the reader's reaction to them?

Part 1) Jessie Victor's drug addiction.

Part 2) Paul Christian's shootings.

Part 3) Inez Victor's affair and her decision to leave her family.

Essay Topic 2

Jessie Victor is one of the more unpredictable characters of DEMOCRACY. Write an essay analyzing her objectives, both those that she tells her father she wants to pursue and the ones she pursues by a series of inadvisable actions. What decisions does she make that cause problems both for her and for those around her? What reasoning does she give for making these choices, and what reasoning does the narrator infer? How doe these motivations connect with the goals she describes to her father?

Essay Topic 3

Didion seems to indicate throughout the novel that political life is just as vicious as - and possibly more so - military life. Write an essay on this assertion, in two parts:

Part 1) Inez Victor is presented as a victim of public life. To what extent is she destroyed by her relationship with Harry Victor? What passions is she forced to give up? What role is she forced to inhabit because of Harry's political aspirations?

Part 2) Billy Dillon is presented as a foot-soldier of political life; his motivations seem entirely removed from normal human compassion. How is he constantly undermining normal human interaction? To what extent is verbal and emotional violence the main tool of his trade?

(see the answer keys)

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