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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 kind of a structure does the squad occupy during the violent rainstorm in Chapter 11?

2. When Chapter 2 opens, how long has the war been going on?

3. Was does Poterloo discover about his wife?

4. Why were the executed veteran's accomplices sentenced to life in prison and not executed?

5. What does Volpatte say about the four great rivers of France?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the men's hopes and fears as their last day of leave approaches?

2. How much do the men seem to know about different kinds of weapons and artillery?

3. How does Paradis's mood change throughout Chapter 16?

4. Where do the men go when the bombardment gets worse? What happens when they get there?

5. What do Volpatte and Fouillade do between the time they are sent to the shell-hole and the time they are found by their unit?

6. What is the attitude of the men towards the journalists?

7. What is Volpatte's opinion of the phrase, "If we do return"?

8. How do Volpatte and Fouillade get lost?

9. According to the author, what is important about the men writing letters home?

10. How do the men first meet Eudoxie, and what is Lamuse doing when they do?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There is a wide gap in perceptions about the war between the soldiers who are fighting it and the civilians who learn about its progress from the media. A few times in the novel, the soldiers come into direct conflict with this misunderstanding, but do little to correct it.

Part 1) Describe how the civilians perceive the state and progress of the war. How accurate are these perceptions?

Part 2) How does the media shape the perceptions of the civilians of France? Does this manipulation seem intentional? Speculate about the motives of the media.

Part 3) Explain how the poilus perceive the war. How does this differ from public perception? Why do the soldiers fail to speak out to correct the civilians?

Essay Topic 2

The author makes it a point to center the narrative spotlight on a number of inexplicable or irrational actions on the part of the French army and its officers. The army does much that makes little sense, and this tends to reinforce the theme of hopeless and pointless waste.

Part 1) Describe some examples of actions on the part of the French army and its officers that seems to make little sense.

Part 2) Explain the reaction of the men of Bertrand's squad to this irrationality. Cite specific examples of these reactions and explain their significance.

Part 3) Speculate as to the reasoning behind some of these unexplained or mysterious actions. Could there be well-founded explanations for some of these behaviors? In the case of actions with no apparent explanation, speculate about how such an action became sanctioned and approved by the military.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, many opinions of the poilus are articulated indirectly. The perspective always stays with the men of Bertrand's squad and almost always with the narrator, but through the experiences of these men, the perceptions of many other people towards the poilus becomes clear.

Part 1) Explain how the poilus, and particularly groups like Bertrand's squad, who have spent a great deal of time in the trenches, are perceived by the more active forces, such as other formations that are on the march, or the Moroccan Division.

Part 2) Describe the shirker's attitudes towards the poilus. How are these attitudes shaped by the shirker's own failures and vices?

Part 3) Explain how the civilians and journalists see the poilus. How are these perceptions shaped by this group's desire to support the war?

(see the answer keys)

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