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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. Why have the Chestnuts built the levee?

2. What are the names of the two guards who let Sarat across the border?

3. When Sarat returns to the Chestnut home, where does she choose to stay?

4. Why does Attic, one of the Salt Lake Boys, say he is fighting for the South?

5. Who is Adam Bragg, Jr.?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Sarat ask Simon to forgive her?

2. How does Dana die?

3. Why does Trough want to go with Sarat in the medical transport to the North?

4. What does Benjamin ask Sarat about her own burial?

5. Who are the Salt Lake Boys?

6. Explain the significance of the name that Sarat gives to her rifle.

7. When the Chestnut family goes to Market, what happens when Sarat tries to stab the Northern patrol soldier?

8. Explain the entertainment that goes on at the Citadel.

9. How did the Chestnuts come to have such a fine estate?

10. Explain the connection to Sarat of the woman who protected Sarat's diaries all those years.

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

Define the literary term "motif" and discuss how the motif of smell is used in at least four examples in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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