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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. What revelation does Jones give Brown about his love life?

2. When Martha tells Brown that she is sleeping with Jones, what is the worst part of that statement?

3. What does the priest do with the bodies which the dancers bring to him?

4. How does the captain intimidate the police officer who came onboard the ship?

5. Why do Brown and Jones sleep in the cemetery until daybreak?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Brown's car breaks down on the road, he and Jones take refuge in a cemetery until the morning. How does this fit their time in Haiti? How does it portend what is to come?

2. When just before leaving Haiti, Mr. Smith scatters money in front of the post office, what does he show about himself? Has he changed since he first came to the country?

3. 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?

4. When Mr. Smith, Brown, and the Secretary for Social Welfare survey Duvalierville with the purpose of building a vegetarian center, the only person they see is a justice of the peace. What is the irony of this man?

5. 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.

6. 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?

7. 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?

8. 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?

9. As the two men wait out the night in the cemetery, Jones tells Brown the truth about his life. Is this a fitting time for his confession? Why would he confess to Brown instead of anyone else?

10. While lying in bed in the Hotel Trianon, Martha notes to brown that their relationship is no longer an adventure. What are the signs of this change? What are their choices for the future?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the times Brown is held at gunpoint by Captain Concasseur. What does he have to lose? Why does he react differently? How is the captain's attitude different? What are their roles in both scenes? For example, in the second incident, Brown notes that a person would not hesitate to shoot someone he sees as worthless.

Essay Topic 2

The Smiths are devoted to the idea of the vegetarian center, even when Haitian reality tells them that it will never happen. They are clinging to the dream in the face of truth. Where else does this happen in the novel? Who is clinging to dream that can never become reality?

Essay Topic 3

Brown often defines characters by their race, which seems also to determine their social standing. Is Brown trying to explain the world, or is he simply presenting the Haitian culture as it existed? What other pieces of the story present uniquely Haitian culture?

(see the answer keys)

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