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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. How do the men respond when the Corporal tries to organize them to face the enemy?

2. What do the New Jersey soldier uniforms look like?

3. What does the tavern keeper encourage Jonathan to do?

4. Where is the battle to take place?

5. What idea of the Corporal's for facing the enemy is met with resistance?

Short Essay Questions

1. What has Jonathan heard about the Hessians' reputation for how they treat their prisoners?

2. In what way does the Corporal mislead the soldiers as they head off to battle?

3. How do the American soldiers feel as they see the enemy soldiers approach?

4. In what way are Jonathan's feelings about the Corporal different than those of the other soldiers?

5. Does Jonathan have a realistic idea of what war entails at the beginning of the story?

6. What does it reveal about the soldiers when one of them shoots into the air as a joke?

7. How does Jonathan feel about his performance in the battle?

8. How does the feeling of Jonathan's gun in his hands change as he prepares to fire upon the Hessians?

9. What do the men debate about once they have reached their destination for the battle?

10. How does Jonathan begin to understand what the Hessians are saying to him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What event represents the climax of the novel? What is the significance of the choices Jonathan makes in this scene, in terms of his character development?

Essay Topic 2

When the Frenchman explains to Jonathan that soldiers either kill or get killed, what is it about Jonathan's experience that leads him to believe that it may not be this black-and-white? How has Jonathan's notion of what it means to be a soldier changed?

Essay Topic 3

Name at least two points in the story when Jonathan finds it difficult to see because some type of fog (natural or manufactured) is clouding the air. What does this fog symbolize in terms of the realities of war and Jonathan's discoveries about it?

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