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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. By what area of the body does Norman Bowker attempt to pull the body out of the muck?
(a) His arm
(b) His boot
(c) His belt
(d) His hand

2. What Army position did the narrator hold?
(a) Lieutenant
(b) Pilot
(c) Foot soldier
(d) Radio man

3. Which feeling does the narrator not admit to about the war?
(a) Sadness
(b) Grief
(c) Responsibility
(d) Guilt

4. Who warns Lt. Cross about the location the men choose to camp in?
(a) A group of other soldiers
(b) The command post
(c) A group of Vietnamese children
(d) A group of Vietnamese women

5. Who is curious about if the narrator killed anybody?
(a) His daughter
(b) His son
(c) His wife
(d) His friend

6. Who is the most upset by the act, and wants to know why the villager is behaving that way?
(a) Kiowa
(b) Tim
(c) Henry Dobbins
(d) Azar

7. Why does Henry Dobbins think the girl is dancing?
(a) Because it is a ritual
(b) Because she wants to
(c) Because she wants the soldiers to like her
(d) Because she is nervous

8. What was Norman Bowker's chief criticism of the first draft of "Speaking of Courage?"
(a) It was a gross embellishment of the truth
(b) The piece is too short
(c) A lack of details
(d) The piece is too long

9. Who does Tim blame for his near-death experience?
(a) Bobby Jorgenson
(b) Rat Kiley
(c) Morty Phillips
(d) Mitchell Sanders

10. The man Tim killed had a hole the shape of what where an eye was supposed to be?
(a) A heart
(b) A crescent moon
(c) A star
(d) A circle

11. Which is NOT a way Norman Bowker attempts to return to normal life?
(a) Working at various jobs
(b) Classes at a community college
(c) Basketball at the YMCA
(d) Dating a number of women

12. Other than Kathleen and Tim, who else watched him get into the river?
(a) A young man hauling rice
(b) A young child eating
(c) An old man farming
(d) A woman carrying a basket

13. How could Kiowa be sure the man would have done harm to the platoon if Tim had not killed him?
(a) The man carried a gun and ammunition
(b) The man carried letters of troop movements
(c) The man carried a supply of land mines
(d) The man carried dog tags of dead American soldiers

14. What is not a phrase used by the men to describe the dead?
(a) Crunchie munchie
(b) Cracker jack
(c) Roasted peanut
(d) Crispy critter

15. What personal item did Tim "bury" in the river?
(a) Lt. Cross's pebble
(b) Kiowa's moccasins
(c) Henry Dobbins' panty hose
(d) A picture of his old girlfriend

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the young man trying to show Kiowa before "the whole field blew up around them?"

2. In Tim's imagination, what village is the man he killed from?

3. What part of the story is Tim's own?

4. What does Tim think would have happened if he ignored the man on the trail?

5. What medal did Norman Bowker almost win?

(see the answer keys)

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