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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. How much did the bread sacks Joe lifted at the bakery weigh?

2. Where is the desert in which Joe is working?

3. With what does Joe compare his situation right now?

4. How many days has Joe been sick in his life?

5. Where did Joe and his friends swim in Colorado?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Joe think he might be able to tell being awake and asleep with no eyes?

2. Why does Joe think being the way he is is worse than being in the womb?

3. Who does Joe call out to in his nightmare and why?

4. What book did Joe read that gave him a nightmare and what was that nightmare?

5. Why doesn't Joe worry about loss of appetite?

6. Where does Joe see Jose while he's lying in bed, what does he ask him and what does Joe figure out?

7. As Joe's pain fades some what does he think about and how does he feel about being deaf?

8. What does Joe think guys should do when called up for the military?

9. What does Joe think about doctors and war?

10. Why does he worry about a ring? What kind of ring is it and who gave it to him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Joe is boarding the train to go to boot camp after being drafted, he describes a scene of bands playing, flags waving and women and children calling out to their beloved husbands, sons, and brothers who are leaving for war. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think men (and now women also) are often sent off to war in an almost-festive-like atmosphere?

2. Does this send off make it harder or easier for Joe Bonham to march off to war? Explain.

3. If sending men and women off to war were treated like a funeral, do you think it would impact those leaving in a positive or negative way? Explain.

4. How would the political powers be impacted if war were viewed differently by a funeral-like send off?

Essay Topic 2

The first section of the book begins a theme that finds its culmination in the final chapters--the idea of dying for one's country and "freedom." Discuss one of the following:

1. During the last conflict in which there was a draft (Vietnam), many men choose to leave the United States rather than fight in a war in which they do not believe. Discuss how Joe views his being drafted and the reasons he accepts his legal obligation. How does he think about this same subject near the end of the book?

2. Is it ever moral to refuse to serve one's country? Take a stance and give detailed examples to support it.

3. Compare and contrast a war/conflict in which the United States was involved which seemed justifiable with one that does not seem as such.

Essay Topic 3

Joe Bonham also has to join, and ends up lying in bed, thinking this is no place for him, no war for him, none of his business. What does he care about making the world safe for democracy?

1. Compare Joe's feelings about war and his assertion that it is none of his business with the ideas many Vietnam draftees expressed.

2. Do you think Joe's reaction to war is a common reaction for draftees? Why or why not?

3. The idea that rich, political persons declare war but the common, poor person fights them. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 903 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample