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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. Which person with whom O'Brien meets to share his opposition to the war curses regularly?

2. With what is O'Brien ill?

3. Which of the following was one of O'Brien's common winter activities?

4. Which of the following is the best definition for bellicose?

5. From which area are the insurgents?

Short Essay Questions

1. What philosophical conversation does O'Brien attempt to hold with the captain?

2. Describe the backdrop for O'Brien's upbringing.

3. What do the soldiers do that provokes a few Viet Cong hiding in the jungle to open fire before disappearing into the jungle?

4. To whom does O'Brien write as he continues his plan to desert to Sweden?

5. After he starts his interest in politics, what does O'Brien begin to do?

6. What do the soldiers learn how to do at the combat center?

7. How many scenes does the author use in chapter ten?

8. The Starlight scope is what kind of technology?

9. Why does the smoke from Tri Binh 4 trouble O'Brien?

10. How does O'Brien spend his last summer before starting basic training?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay describing which event in the story struck you as being the most horrible and why. How does this event compare to any event in your own life which you had previously considered horrible? Describe how levels of horror may change throughout one's life.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay expressing your own personal feelings about O'Brien's experience in Vietnam in relation to his own feelings. How has your understanding of the Vietnam war changed? In what ways can you relate to how O'Brien felt during his time in the war?

Essay Topic 3

Choose two characters from the novel and write a comparative essay about these two characters using information from the novel as the basis for your comparison. At the end of your comparison, choose one of the characters which you feel you are most like and why you believe that is the case.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 539 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample