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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 organization does the English patient belong to?

2. What does Kip do with his partner's body?

3. With what group of people do the English patient and his team travel?

4. Why does Caravaggio decide he must find out the English patient's identity?

5. From what does Caravaggio fall as it explodes?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How and why is Caravaggio tortured by the Germans?

4. How is the topic of companionship explored in Chapter 4?

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

6. What event in Chapter 3 brings Hana and Kip closer together?

7. Describe Hana's conversation with Caravaggio in the library after Kip and his partner arrive at the villa.

8. Though the English patient's profession is not overtly given, what do you think he does for a living? Why?

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

10. How does the relationship between Hana and Kip foreshadow later events in the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The villa is a significant part of Ondaatje's story. What does the wall symbolize? What similarities can you give between the wall and characters' qualities?

Essay Topic 2

How does Ondaatje incorporate the concept of man versus self in his novel? Which character do you think is the best example of man versus self and why?

Essay Topic 3

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

(see the answer keys)

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