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. Where in the villa does Hana sleep?

2. How does Kip's partner die?

3. What methods do the English patient and his companions use to travel?

4. Why does Katharine feel guilty?

5. In Chapter 4, what does Zerzura refer to?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the English patient behave when he and Katharine are apart?

2. Describe how Caravaggio finds out that Hana is at the villa.

3. How does Chapter 5 foreshadow later events in the novel?

4. How does the narrator recount the English patient's adventures in the desert?

5. What is the general purpose of Chapter 4? Is it effective?

6. Describe the setting of Chapter 1.

7. What is Katharine's first reaction when she falls in love with the English patient?

8. Describe the scene in the English patient's room before Kip's partner dies.

9. Describe the English patient's reaction to Katharine's decision to end the affair.

10. What purpose does the piano serve in the villa?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the characters of the English patient and Caravaggio. How are their lives different? How are the characters the same?

Essay Topic 2

What is the purpose of a foil in literature? Describe one character in Ondaatje's novel that you believe is a foil of another character. Why do you think Ondaatje may have created characters in his work that emphasize each other's qualities?

Essay Topic 3

Identify the climax of this story and the series of events leading up to the climax. How did characters respond to the climax? What did Ondaatje include in his story to insure that the climax would be as powerful and meaningful as possible?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 715 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample