Essay Questions

Gary Harkness tends to sabotage his college prospects. Illustrate the truthfulness of this statement using Don DeLillo’s End Zone.

Gary’s tendency to disrupt his college prospects is brought out in the novel through his particular role and behavior that leads him to be thrown out of most learning institutions. For instance, the character gets thrown out of Syracuse University as a result of his decision to hide himself in his room in the company of a lady, Lippy Margolis, after he offers to help her hide from the world. Also, Gary quits Penn State after what he calls constant football drilling. He then decides to spend the winter at home with his parents. Even at the University of Miami, Gary becomes depressed and later leaves. Gary’s actions, therefore, in a way, are self-sabotaging.

Show how the concepts of nihilism as well as war, and death are presented in Don DeLillo’s End Zone.

The philosophy classes attended by Gary and Taft implicitly bring out the concepts of nihilism in the novel. In these classes, Gary and friends become invested in the world and study of existentialism as well as absurdism. The looming cold war, on the other hand, brings out the tension between sports and their associated fun as well as cruelty associated with war. The fiber of humanoid nature that is the existential connection between war and sport then becomes apparent. The death of a couch through suicide in the first chapter solidifies Gary’s beliefs.