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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. Sonya stands and holds up a sign that someone has given her. What does the sign say?

2. In “We Lived Happily before the War,” it has been how many months since America has had a terrible leader?

3. In “We Lived Happily during the War,” America is described as falling how?

4. For whom is Alfonso looking for initially in “4 a.m. Bombardment”?

5. In “Alfonso, in the Snow,” Alfonso talks to himself saying he is alive and must do what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Alfonso say about his and his wife’s bathing ritual?

2. In “Alfonso Stands Answerable,” to whom does Alfonso say he is answerable?

3. In “Deafness, an Insurgency, Begins,” what does the speaker say about his country, the day after Petya is murdered?

4. In "Dramatis Personae," the speaker describes the characters that will be found in the poem. Who are two of the characters, and how are they described?

5. In “Checkpoints” what do the soldiers set up around town and why?

6. What does the speaker say in “A Cigarette” about the townspeople?

7. What takes place in “Soldiers Aim at Us?”

8. In “As Soldiers March, Alfonso Covers the Boy’s Face with a Newspaper,” how does Sonya react to her cousin’s murder?

9. In “The Map of Bones and Open Valves,” what do Sonya and Alfonso sneak through the city doing? How do they feel about this?

10. What does the speaker say in “For His Wife”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Time and again the invading army knows how to put the townspeople in their place. What tactics do they use to keep the people from revolting? How do these tactics impact the main characters? How does this behavior educate the reader on how invading armies have succeeded in real-life situations to terrorize whole communities and countries?

Essay Topic 2

Anushka is born at just six pounds. What is the significance of this? Why is this mentioned in the poem? What other details are given throughout this book that are subtle, yet important and impactful? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Kaminsky mentions the blue canary in "4 a.m. Bombardment." Blue Canary is a term used to describe first responders to a scene. They often do not have respirators or fire protection gear. They are much like the canaries once sent into coal mines to make sure they were safe and had adequate oxygen. Applying this understanding to Kaminsky's poem, what might he be saying about the blue canary? What is the blue canary doing? What is the relationship of the blue canary to others?

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