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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 the interior of the house Jonathan and the Hessians find look like?

2. What does Jonathan do with the gun he retrieves from the house?

3. What do the American soldiers discuss immediately following the battle with the Hessians at the house?

4. What is the Hessians' initial response when Jonathan asks for help burying the boy's parents?

5. What helps Jonathan when he has trouble digging up the soil to bury the boy's parents?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of Jonathan choosing to find the Corporal instead of killing the sleeping Hessians?

2. What is the significance of Jonathan smashing the borrowed gun to pieces in a fit of rage?

3. What connection does Jonathan make between the death of his father's friend in battle and the death of the boy's parents at the hands of the Corporal?

4. When Jonathan starts to protest the Corporal's orders, explaining that the Hessians "didn't hurt me," what effect does the Corporal's response have on him?

5. In what way does Jonathan begin to see the Corporal differently when the man wakes him up at the campfire?

6. Why does the young Hessian insist on digging the grave on his own?

7. Why does Jonathan have confusing reactions to the men's assessment at the campfire of the result of the battle?

8. In what way does untying himself from the sleeping Hessian represent a change in Jonathan?

9. What is the significance of Jonathan's telling the Corporal that he wants to go home, and the Corporal telling him that he's needed?

10. Why is the Corporal being kind to Jonathan after he wakes him up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In what ways is this book a coming-of-age story? What are the major events that cause Jonathan to change from a child to an adult, and how do these changes manifest in him? How is he different before and after his experiences as a soldier?

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

Discuss the theme of idealism versus reality in the novel. At what points does Jonathan wrestle to resolve his conflicts between the two? How do these experiences ultimately shape his conclusions?

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