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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. Why does Bardamu suddenly join a parade?

2. What does Bardamu think he is going to find in America?

3. What do Bardamu and his colleagues do for 'fun' during the war?

4. Whose house do Robinson and Bardamu visit in the village of Noirceur?

5. How does Bardamu almost become a celebrity in Section 6?

Short Essay Questions

1. What hallucination does Bardamu start to have at the end of Section 4 and why?

2. Who is Musyne, and why does her relationship with Bardamu fail to work?

3. What does Bardamu decide is strange - yet respectful - about Sergeant Alcide?

4. What does Bardamu think is the interesting quality of the Manhattan Banks?

5. Why does Bardamu set fire to his trading hut in Section 10?

6. What is the traditional cure for cowardice used in the military hospitals?

7. Who saves Bardamu from the jungle?

8. What does Bardamu think about the Germans during the First World War?

9. In Section 7, where does Bardamu decide to go and why?

10. What do the hospital patients attempt to do to amuse themselves?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the role and symbolism of carnivals in the novel. What role does the carnival play, structurally, to mark transitions of setting or changes in people's behavior?

Essay Topic 2

How is the theme of money and profit played off against the notion of adventure and a life well lived in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

How does the use of the first person affect our reading of the novel? Cite examples to describe this interaction with the reader.

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