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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. Whose greeting of Toomey is less friendly than the other soldiers?

2. What does Toomey make Carney do as punishment?

3. What does Donald's sister look like?

4. What does the prostitute tell Eugene he should do to look older?

5. Who actually stole Wykowski's money?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Daisy tell Eugene she will always know, if he winds up with another girl?

2. How does Eugene react to the men reading his notebook?

3. What does Eugene do at the end of the scene?

4. Why is Carney upset at what Eugene wrote?

5. What does Arnold's fantasy say about his character?

6. How does Toomey treat Epstein, and why?

7. What does Eugene say about his feelings at the end of Act 2, Scene 8?

8. What does Toomey want from the soldiers?

9. How does Eugene feel at the end of Act 2, Scene 2?

10. What does Toomey tell the soldiers about their future service in the war?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss sex and love in the play.

1) What distinctions does Eugene make between sex and love? Why does he find his first sexual experience dissatisfying, and why does he begin to look for love after it?

2) Does Eugene have a realistic view of sex? Does he have a realistic view of love? How do his views change over the course of the play?

3) How do the soldiers view sex? How do their views differ? How do their views of sex influence their views of women and love?

Essay Topic 2

The play BILOXI BLUES is about soldiers during wartime, but little is actually seen of the war. Discuss the role of war in the novel.

1) Why does the play show Eugene's experience before shipping overseas, and then end with his retelling of events during the war, but not show the war itself?

2) How real does the war seem to the soldiers in boot camp?

3) What affect does the existence of the war, which the soldiers will soon have to become a part of, have on their decisions and attitudes?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss humor in the play.

1) How do the characters use humor in their interactions? How do they use humor as insults? How does humor form part of their friendship?

2) In what ways does the author use humor in the play? How does the author combine serious issues such as prejudice and war with humor?

(see the answer keys)

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