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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 did Steffie and Bee meet each other?

2. What color were all the packages in Murray's shopping cart?

3. Eric tells Jack that he looks different without what?

4. Where does Denise find Babette's Dylar bottle?

5. What is one theory about how the Treadwells got to the abandoned cookie-shack?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the mood of the family when they are shopping at the mall?

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

3. According to Jack, why does Bee make the family feel self-conscious?

4. Describe what happens when Denise confronts Babette about the Dylar on the way to the mall.

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

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

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

8. Why does Babette ask if Bee and Steffie know each other?

9. What does Bee claim about the conflict between her mother and stepfather?

10. Why did Jack name Heinrich Heinrich?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Decide whether or not you think this book is funny. If so, write a position paper that explains the humor and why you find it funny/why DeLillo hopes the reader finds it funny. If you do not think it is funny, write a position paper that articulates your opinion of the jokes/humor/irony at work here and why you think it was not effective. Be sure to offer specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

The supermarket is an important locale in this novel. Describe what the supermarket means thematically in this novel, remembering to include what happens there through the novel and what role it plays both in the lives of the characters and in terms of advancing the plot.

(see the answer keys)

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