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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. What does Alfonso drink after Sonya is murdered?

2. What does the sign say that is hanging around Sonya’s neck?

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

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

5. How do the townspeople in “Alfonso Stands Answerable” respond to the police?

Short Essay Questions

1. In “We Lived Happily during the War,” the speaker says what happened when homes were bombed?

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

3. 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?

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

5. How does Alfonso react to his wife’s murder?

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

7. In “Alfonso, in Snow,” what does the speaker say about himself?

8. In “4 a.m. Bombardment,” as the morning begins and the town comes to life what are the soldiers doing? What is Alfonso doing?

9. In “Lullaby,” what does Alfonso say will protect his daughter?

10. What is the topic of both “Of Weddings before the War” and “Still Newlyweds”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The poet calls the puppeteers who murder the soldiers "beautiful women of Vasenka." What does the poet mean by this? How are they beautiful? Are their actions beautiful? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

For a box of oranges, Alfonso kills a soldier. How does he seem to feel about his actions? How does this compare to the reactions of the other townspeople? How do the reactions of the townspeople right after the killing compare to when Alfonso is tortured and killed? What does this reveal about the townspeople?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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