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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. In this section, what does the reader begin to understand about Ben's story?

2. What is Ben very eager to find?

3. At what age was Miro expected to die?

4. What did Ben's father work as?

5. The hijackers give the children candy, but what is wrong with it?

Short Essay Questions

1. When was the first time that Ben had learned about Inner Delta?

2. What does Kate hope for when she hears the helicopters overhead?

3. What do the terrorists hope to gain from the negotiations?

4. When Artkin summons Miro, what does he tell him about?

5. What does the reader begin to understand about Miro as the events of the novel play out?

6. What do the events of the novel show to the reader?

7. What type of life did Ben lead while he was growing up?

8. According to Ben's father, what do the terrorists want?

9. When Kate is using the bathroom, what does she find?

10. How do the terrorists get all the children to fall asleep?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Two thirds of the way through the novel, the author begins to focus on two relationships. When it is revealed that Artkin in Miro's father, the author shifts the reader's attention to their apparent father/son relationship. Compare this relationship to Ben and the General.

Essay Topic 2

Examine the ending of the novel and then discuss how the ending of the novel tragic and unfair.

What is an alternate ending you would have liked to see for the story?

Essay Topic 3

Is foreshadowing a device that Cormier uses throughout his novel?

If so, what characters, or section of the novel does he choose to use this device in.

Give 3 instances of foreshadowing.

(see the answer keys)

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