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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. Why isn't Mr. Tanimoto able to bring a doctor to Asano Park?

2. What does Dr. Sasaki eventually get permission from the Red Cross Hospital to do?

3. How does Mrs. Nakamura react when her sewing machine is retrieved?

4. What happens to Mrs. Nakamura a few weeks after the bombing?

5. Why does Father Kelinsorge go to the police station the day after the bombing?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Mr. Tanimoto see when he awakes in the first light of dawn, the first morning after the bombing?

2. What affect does Father Kleinsorge's answers to Miss Sasaki's questions about life have on her health?

3. How do the Nakamura children spend the night at Asano Park the day of the bombing?

4. What is Dr. Fujii doing a month after the bombing?

5. How do the Japanese react to their Emperor's radio broadcast?

6. What theory does Dr. Sasaki and his colleagues at the Red Cross Hospital make about the first stage of the radiation disease?

7. By midsummer, Mrs. Nakamura's savings are gone. How then does she survive?

8. What does Miss Sasaki think about while at the hospital and why?

9. Describe Mr. Tanaka.

10. What in particular makes Miss Sasaki uneasy when she sees the ruins of Hiroshima for the first time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Japanese government's response to the bombing.

1) Why is the government slow to respond to the victims of the bombing? Cite three examples from the book.

2) When and why does the government begin to respond to the citizens of Hiroshima who were affected by the bomb?

3) How do the characters in the book view their government's response to the bomb? Do they blame their government for the Hiroshima bombing? What about the bombing of Nagasaki? Cite three examples from the book.

Essay Topic 2

John Hersey portrays the lives of six survivors of the atomic bomb.

1. Does Hersey give equal content to each character's story in the book or does there seem to be a preference over one or the other? Cite examples to prove your theory.

2. Why were these six characters chosen for the book? What similarities and differences do they possess that enables the story to be told effectively?

Essay Topic 3

Trying to make a "home" in a foreign land.

1. Discuss how Father Kleinsorge attempts to make a home in a foreign land. Cite three examples that prove your theory.

2. Does Father Kleinsorge reach out to people or attempt to create a community in Japan out of need, service, or generosity?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 980 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample