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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is Jones forced to hide when Haitian police officers enter the ship?
(a) Under the kitchen table.
(b) Under an empty bed.
(c) In the bathroom.
(d) In the ship's hold.

2. At the casino with Luigi, whom does Brown see from the ship?
(a) The man with the tin hat.
(b) Mr. Baxter.
(c) The purser.
(d) The captain.

3. Lying on the ground next to his pool, Brown thinks that he and Martha are more intimate than ever before. Why is this?
(a) They make love gently.
(b) They talk about running away together.
(c) They trust each other with words rather than a touch.
(d) They do not talk.

4. Why do Brown and Jones sleep in the cemetery until daybreak?
(a) Haitians think only zombies are abroad at night, and they won't go there.
(b) There is no other shelter from the rain.
(c) Brown wants to be as far from the road as possible.
(d) The area is heavily populated and there is nowhere else to hide.

5. What keeps Brown awake during the all-night voodoo ceremony?
(a) The pounding of the drums.
(b) The face of young Philipot.
(c) The mysterious liquor that was served.
(d) The sight of the young girls drinking.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Mrs. Smith appears on the porch, what is she wearing?

2. Why is Jones proud of his expansive liquor traveling case?

3. How does Brown act toward the end of the Voodoo ceremony?

4. What makes Jones sad about dressing as a woman?

5. When Brown visits Jones the afternoon after the Smiths leave town, what do the two men drink?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Brown picks up Jones at the British embassy to smuggle him out of the city, how has Jones's attitude changed? What motivates this?

2. In order to leave the Medea to travel to the British embassy, Jones dresses as a woman. What is the effect of this costume? How does it reflect on Jones?

3. According to Doctor Magiot in Part 2, Chapter 1, what role does Voodoo play in Haitian culture? What is its relation to Catholicism?

4. The second time Brown visits the casino, the place is drastically changed from the night he met Martha. How is it different? What does this signal about Haiti's economy?

5. Young Philipot, who visits Brown while he is swimming one early afternoon, is consumed with the idea of owning a Bren gun and fighting Papa Doc's army with it. In his idealism, what other character does he resemble and why?

6. The night before he takes Jones out of Port-au-Prince, Brown wanders through his empty hotel. What does it reveal to the reader about Brown's personality? What is the effect of this scene?

7. Why do Mr. and Mrs. Smith refer several times to their experience in Nashville? Brown wonders this himself, when Mrs. Smith references that incident in order to win an argument with her husband.

8. When Jones and Brown board the Medea so Jones can ask for asylum, Brown describes the ship's captain like a judge. What is the effect of this appearance? Is this the first time a judge figure has appeared in the book? How does this contrast to Haitian culture?

9. Brown feels that the happiest moment he spent with Martha was when they lay outside on the grass, talking. How does this compare to his initial feelings about the relationship? What does this moment portend about the future of their relationship?

10. When Brown attends the Voodoo ceremony with Joseph, several white-wrapped bodies are held close to the flame so that the skin burns. What is the effect of this scene? What is its possible antecedent?

(see the answer keys)

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