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1 . Choose the best description of the characters Bob, Fred and…
1 . Choose the best description of the characters Bob, Fred and Bruce in A Scanner Darkly.
Group of answer choices
Fred is a narcotics agent; Bob is Fred’s undercover identity; Bruce is Fred/Bob’s new name after Substance D deletes his old identity.
Fred helps to get Bob arrested on drug dealing charges. Bruce is Bob’s friend and also the narcotics agent who goes under cover at New Path.
Bob is Donna’s boyfriend, Fred is her ex-boyfriend, and Bruce is her contact at New Path.
Bob is the supervisor of Bruce and Bob’s undercover work.
2. Which of the following is the most accurate account of conspiracy theories in A Scanner Darkly?
Group of answer choices
A Scanner Darkly depicts both paranoia and conpiracy theories, which are mostly false, except for the vast conspiracy to brainwash millions into obedient slaves using Substance D.
A Scanner Darkly depicts lots of paranoia but no conspiracy theories.
Although the novel is full of conspiracy theories, they are all theories held by drugged up lunatics who are badly confused.
The novel is full of conspiracy theories–all of which are true in the fictional world of the novel.
3. Why is it so difficult to track down the source of Substance D in A Scanner Darkly?
Group of answer choices
Because Substance D is grown on remote farms operated by New Path Rehab clinics, where former Substance D addicts have been transformed into brainless zombie workers who do exactly as they are told.
Because Substance D is simply aspirin disolved in Diet Coke.
Because Substance D is a byproduct of the condensation of salt water on cabbage leaves.
Because Substance D is synthesized using the interpolated rotoscope, a handheld device that converts ordinary sugar into a powerful narcotic using only two double A batteries and a strip of tinfoil.
4. What is meant by “Agency Panic”?
Group of answer choices
“Agency Panic” is a scholarly term for a growing feeling among Americans that they are losing control of lives and even their deepest selves, which are subject to manipulation by large, impersonal forces.
“Agency Panic” is the name for that sinking feeling you get when you get in line at the DMV.
“Agency Panic” is a punk band depicted in A Scanner Darkly. For a while Bob Arctor thinks the lead singer is “posing as a nark.”
“Agency panic” is a conspiracy theory that claims that Federal Agencies, like the intelligence agencies (e.g. the CIA) are working to spread panic inside the United States so that people will be willing to yield all their freedom to the one world government and the new world order.
5. In “The White Album,” Joan Didion writes:
At some point during the years I am talking about here, after a series of periodic visual disturbances (!), three electroencephalograms, two complete sets of skull and neck X-rays, one five hour glucose tolerance test, two electromyelograms, a battery of chemical tests and consultations with two ophthalmologists, one internist and three neurologists, I was told that the disorder was not really in my eyes, but in my central nervous system. I might or might not experience symptoms of neural damage all my life. These symptoms, which might or might not appear, might or might not involve my eyes. They might or might not involve my arms or legs, they might or might not be disabling. Their effects might be lessened by cortisone injections, or they might not. It could not be predicted. The condition had a name…but the name meant nothing and the neurologist did not like to use it. The name was multiple sclerosis, but the name had no meaning.
According to our discussion, what does this passage about her health have to do with our investigations in this course?
Group of answer choices
This passage describes a moment when paranoia and panic enter the body (nervous system) which has been described to Didion as something that might or might not fail at any time.
This passage shows that modern medicine sometimes involves doctors simply developing their own conspiracy theories about our nervous systems.
This passage shows that Joan Didion is deeply paranoid even to the point of psychosis.
This passage presents a conspiracy theory suggesting that we can’t trust medical experts.
6. What would be the most accurate way of describing the story Joan Didion tells in “The White Album.”
Group of answer choices
“The White Album” describes a period in Didion’s life when she began to doubt the premises of all the stories she used to make sense of the world.
“The White Album” tells the story of how Didion went from being an unknown writer to a major cultural authority.
“The White Album” is mostly about the Beatles, with some passing references to The Doors and The Black Panthers; what unites all these groups is that they wanted a better world.
“The White Album” is about Didion’s adventures in the counter culture of the 60s, where, actually, if you pay close attention, everything does make perfect sense.
7. What does Rennie (in Bodily Harm) have in common with Joan Didion (in “The White Album”)?
Group of answer choices
Both women experience paranoia about and within their own bodies.
Both women have been stalked by men who invaded their homes.
Both women have hallucinations induced by psychotropic drugs.
Both women have confusing experiences in Carribbean cultures they understand poorly.
8. Why might Rennie’s former boyfriend Jake make Rennie feel a little paranoid?
Group of answer choices
He says that he loves her but talks continually about raping her, which makes it hard to tell how he really feels.
She discovers that he is living a double life as a CIA agent, so what else might he be lying about?
He is constantly lying about his affairs with other women (and often getting caught).
Mostly because he is a big pot smoker who is often lighting up “strong grass.”
9. Rennie agrees to pick up a package at customs for Lora. It supposedly contains heart medicine. What is really in the package?
Group of answer choices
A machine gun
Primo Colombian weed
40 pounds of Cocaine
A scrambled radio transmitter for communicating with the CIA field station in the Dominican Republic.
10. Choose the most accurate and complete description of how Paul influences the paranoid dimensions of Rennie’s experience.
Group of answer choices
He relieves her paranoia about her body because she is able to be intimate with him, but he worsens her paranoia about the outer world because she can’t figure out what he’s up to in St. Antoine.
He relieves her paranoia about external dangers because he can handle himself and has influence with the police, and he increases her fear of her own body by talking continually about skin cancers and sunburns in the tropics.
He makes her paranoia about men worse: when she asks what the all the rope is for, he give her a sinister grin.
He makes her paranoia about “getting caught” much worse because he is clearly involved in shady deals.
