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. At what town does Lieutenant Corson decide to cut off Cacciato in Chapter 10?

2. What city are the three refugee women in the cart from?

3. What animal were Paul Berlin and his father when they went to Indian Guides camp?

4. From what ailment is Lieutenant Corson suffering at the beginning of the novel?

5. What is the next location on Third Squad's journey after Delhi?

Short Essay Questions

1. What surprise announcement does the Lieutenant make to Third Squad in Chapter 26?

2. What are Sidney Martin's values regarding war as described in Chapter 25?

3. How does the quiet of the village in Chapter 16 become insidious?

4. Why does the Squad take a vote on whether to continue pursuing Cacciato in Chapter 3?

5. What difficulty arises when Lieutenant Corson tries to leave Li Van Hgoc's tunnel in Chapter 15?

6. Why do living circumstances become awkward for Third Squad in Delhi?

7. How do two men from Third Squad die in Chapter 9?

8. Why can the Mayor of Ovissil not read Paul Berlin's history?

9. What is the result of Chapter 3's vote?

10. What plans does Paul Berlin make for his return home in Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay charting the progression of Oscar Johnson. How does he begin as a sympathetic figure - a man who cares for the safety of Third Squad - and slowly become a major antagonist to Paul Berlin? What does Oscar care for primarily? How are his grievances against the cavalier Sidney Martin similar to his grievances against the incompetent and deluded Paul Berlin?

Essay Topic 2

The character of Cacciato in the novel exists on two different planes: the Cacciato that exists, and the the Cacciato that exists in Paul Berlin's mind.

Write an essay about Cacciato as he appears in three different points in the novel. It this appearance real or invented? What is Cacciato doing, and how does this further the story? Does Cacciato seem to have any major objective?

Part 1) Cacciato in Delhi

Part 2) Cacciato outside the prison cell in Tehran

Part 3) Cacciato in the World's Greatest Lake Country

Essay Topic 3

Three times over the course of the Cacciato pursuit, Third Squad escapes certain death with little or no explanation as to how their salvation came about. Write an essay about these instances and what they say about the nature of the Cacciato war story:

Part 1) What does the Squad discover in the VC tunnels on the Vietnam-Laos border? How does this experience inform Paul Berlin's understanding of the enemy, and how - in the end - does Third Squad escape the tunnels? Where do they emerge?

Part 2) How does Third Squad nearly die in Tehran? What eventually saves them, and to what extent do these rescuing agents seem to appear out of Paul Berlin's mind?

Part 3) Which member of Third Squad disappears when the ocean-liner to Greece is suddenly searched? How do the remaining men manage to escape what seems like an inescapable situation?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,020 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample