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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. Who is Mailer's lawyer in Chapter 9?

2. Which of the following titles is not one that Mailer the narrator gives himself, Lowell, and Macdonald in Chapter 4?

3. What is Donald Kalish's profession?

4. What is Dick Fontaine doing at the march in Chapter 1?

5. Which of the following militant groups chooses to sit and hold their ground at the March?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the several movements the arrested marchers have to make in this section?

2. Describe Norman Mailer's arrest in Chapter 6?

3. What do the MP's and the marchers have in common, according to Mailer in Chapter 6?

4. How does Dellinger go about planning the march in Chapters 2 and 3?

5. What fracas does Mailer get into in Chapter 2?

6. How does Mailer fair in court in Chapter 9?

7. Why is the Vietnam War fought, according to Mailer in Chapter 7?

8. What metaphor does Mailer draw to the Pentagon in Chapter 4?

9. What bad news greets Mailer when he returns to New York in Chapter 11?

10. What reasons does Mailer list in Chapter 7 for people to be against the war?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Near the end of the second book, Mailer enumerates the reasons why some people oppose the war in Vietnam. Write an essay about this logic, focusing on three of the groups he mentions. Do you think their reasoning in sound? What organizations and individuals represent this group in the narrative? Are there modern parallels to this group in today's society?

Part 1) Those who want Asia and, eventually, America to turn Communist.

Part 2) Those who are pacifists.

Part 3) Those who think the war is unjust.

Essay Topic 2

Norman Mailer, throughout the novel, refers to himself and the other writers and organizers of the march as notables, indicating that they will get preferential treatment from authorities. Mailer makes clear in Armies of the Night that the notables have less at stake than the younger, less famous participants. Write an essay about the difference in consequences faced by the notables and the younger marchers, focusing on two groups. What pain does each group face? Why are the notables excepted from this risk? How do the younger groups face this danger with stoic resolve over the course of the novel?

Part 1) The young men who have turned over their draft cards.

Part 2) The marchers who remain camped in the Pentagon lot on Saturday evening.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel Armies of the Night, Norman Mailer makes reference to other source materials. These offer the reader another vantage for the events of October, 1967. Write an essay about these source materials, focusing on two uses in the novel:

Part 1) The novel begins with a an assessment of Norma Mailer's involvement in the march on the Pentagon in Time Magazine. What does this article have to say about Mailer? How, in essence, does it provide a counterpoint for what follows in the rest of the novel? To what extent does this article both inspire Mailer to write the novel and serve as a destination of sorts for him? Why is Mailer so dedicated to responding to the article?

Part 2) The second book of the novel is full of quotes and references to other publications. Discuss several of these publications and their role in Book II. How does their inclusion reflect a different sort of narration from the narration in Book I? Is Mailer attempting to cite them as corroboration or refute them as he does the Time Magazine story?

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