View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Marcus Exum doing when Martina meets him?

2. How much does it cost for the Chestnuts to board the bus for the refugee camp?

3. Who escaped from the camp right before the massacre occurred?

4. Where is the capital of the Federal government?

5. What state does Sarat live in at the beginning of the book?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the narrator's vocation and how it affects his telling of the story.

2. What does Martina do to earn money at the refugee camp?

3. Why do the Chestnuts want to go North?

4. Explain where the South gets most of its provisions.

5. Why is the Virginia Cavalier's killing of the colonel and theft of Northern supplies important?

6. What is the significance of the pet turtle, Cherylene Cee?

7. What is the significance of the Statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe?

8. Describe Emerald Creek and what function it served at Camp Patience.

9. What story about her life does Martina tell one of the women at the camp when she is drunk?

10. Explain why Martina wants Simon to join the Free Southerners and not the rebels.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the background of the author of American War. Give three ways that his background affected his writing style and his story-telling ability.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the character of Karina Chowdhury. Give three reasons that she truly loved Simon, or give three reasons that she married Simon because of the family's status.

Essay Topic 3

What is the role of water in Sarat's lifetime? Give three examples of how water impacted her life.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 704 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample