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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. Into what country does Third Squad arrive at the end of Chapter 36?

2. According to Doc Peret in Chapter 29, what is the root of Lieutenant Corson's illness?

3. According to Oscar Johnson, what is the only lesson to be learned from Buff's death?

4. Which of the following is not among the lessons Paul Berlin enumerates in Chapter 42?

5. What season is it at the end of Chapter 40?

Short Essay Questions

1. What lesson does Oscar Johnson declare should be learned from Buff's death?

2. Describe the hypothetical conversation Paul Berlin imagines with the young girl in hoop earrings.

3. How does Paul Berlin characterize the true war stories he has in Chapter 42?

4. How does Third Squad escape execution in Chapter 36?

5. What public event does Third Squad witness in Chapter 29?

6. How does Paul Berlin feel about death in Chapter 32?

7. How does Lieutenant Martin precipitate his own murder in Chapter 34?

8. How does Third Squad manage to depart the ocean liner at the beginning of Chapter 40?

9. In Chapter 31, what haunting event happens to Paul Berlin on his first day in the mountains?

10. How does Third Squad determine happens to Buff's big gun?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Going After Cacciato is a mixture of fantasy and harsh reality, and the way in which Tim O'Brien interweaves these is as daring as any of the battles in the story.

Write an essay, in which you focus on three moments when fact and fantasy intersect. How does O'Brien make clear to the reader that he is shifting between these two planes? Where do these connections happen, and what characters do they involve?

Essay Topic 2

Choose one member of the Cacciato search party and write an essay analyzing his attitude toward the mission. At any point in the mission, does he grow convinced that Third Squad is deserting? What was his attitude toward Cacciato before Cacciato disappeared into the jungle? How does the mission to Paris change this character's attitude toward the world, the war, and his fellow soldiers?

Essay Topic 3

In the longer narrative of Going After Cacciato, Paul Berlin invents a number of figures that do not exist.

Write an essay about three of these figures. What function do they serve in the story? Do they stem from any real experience that Paul Berlin has? What do they say about the political or spiritual realities of the Vietnam War?

Part 1) Jolly Chand

Part 2) Captain Rhallon

Part 3) Sarkin Aung Wan

(see the answer keys)

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