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| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What reason does Jessie give Harry for not wanting to go to Janet's funeral?
2. As Inez looks through Janet's closet, what does she wish someone had told her sister?
3. Where does Jessie Victor want to get a job?
4. What does Jack Lovett offer the helicopter engineer in Chapter 2?
5. Why does Inez not want Jessie returning on an orphan plane?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Living beneath the surface of the narrative is the end of the Vietnam War. In the first half of the novel, Didion makes explicit mention of the Fall of Saigon. Write an essay about this historical moment becomes incredibly important both thematically and in terms of the narrative. Which characters are personally involved in the end of the war? How does defeat in Vietnam ripple through the lives of the characters in the novel and through the history it dramatizes?
Essay Topic 2
Write an essay examining the local political situation leading to the Paul Christian killings. Focus on the relationships between the following two people: Wendell Omura and Janet Ziegler, Dwight Christian and Dick Ziegler, and Wendell Omura and Dick Ziegler. What business transactions unite these people? What litigation and what personal affairs? How does the Paul Christian shooting effectively resolve these conflicts? Is it actually connected to the affairs?
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?
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This section contains 432 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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