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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 is the tavern made of?

2. What promise does Jonathan make to the tavern keeper?

3. What does Jonathan suspect about the parents of the boy who was killed in the war?

4. What does Jonathan think about the town being called Rocktown?

5. How is Jonathan feeling just before the battle with the Hessians begins?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jonathan hope the drum or fife player is younger than he?

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

3. Why does Jonathan lie to the tavern keeper about having permission from his father to fight?

4. Why doesn't Jonathan call out when he thinks he sees the Corporal while he is with the Hessians?

5. How does the battle affect Jonathan's orientation in terms of time and space?

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

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

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

9. What makes Jonathan feel that the world has grown very small when he is with the Hessians?

10. Why does the youngest Hessian seem safer and more trustworthy to Jonathan than the other two?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the use of time-stamping throughout the book. What effect does it have on the reader to see events unfold more slowly or more quickly using this device?

Essay Topic 2

Trace Jonathan's relationship to his borrowed rifle throughout the story. What does his relationship to this object symbolize about who he is at various points in the story? Specifically, what is the symbolism of his destroying it at the end?

Essay Topic 3

Who is more treasonous--the Tory spies killed by the Corporal or the young American (Jonathan) who tries to protect the Hessian enemy? What does this tell us about the author's definition of treason?

(see the answer keys)

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