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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 does Joe feel about Harper as he is on his way back home from the desert?

2. What does Joe feel under all of his bandages?

3. What happened to the coal miner who returned home badly wounded?

4. Joe thinks a lot of guys go to war because of this.

5. When does the first snowfall usually happen where Joe grew up?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe how Joe is feeling while working in the desert.

2. Why does Joe wish someone would pick up the phone and what happens when they do?

3. What does Joe want to stop and why?

4. Why does Joe think he is dying and why does he know he is alive?

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

6. When is Joe's birthday; how did they celebrate; and what present did Glen give him one year? What came a few months after that present?

7. Describe the scene at Joe's parents house when he arrives home after his father died.

8. How does Joe realize he has no left arm and how does he feel about it?

9. When did Joe become aware of the war and what events in the war occurred at that time?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When one is unconscious, there is no such thing as time, and when fading in and out, people feel time bunch up--like women in labor for three days saying it seems like ten hours. Considering he may have been like this for two years, Bonham feels a panicky dread. He needs to "trap" time and get back into the world. Discuss one of the following:

1. How does Joe Bonham think of time and eventually "trap" time?

2. What are the ways humans measure time and why does Bonham have such difficulty figuring out a system to measure time? Why do you think he wants to know about the passage of time?

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the construct of time? Use examples both from the text and your own experience.

Essay Topic 2

Joe thinks about how the doctor's have saved his life, but he rather than feeling appreciative, he is resentful and feels more like a science experiment. Discuss one of the following:

1. Elaborate on and analyze Joe's attitudes towards the doctors both at the field hospital and in his long term care facility.

2. Discuss the pros and cons of saving life at any cost, whether on the battlefield or otherwise.

3. One might think that doctors work harder to save young people because they are young and have not had a full lifespan, yet, in our culture, doctors often go to heroic efforts to save quite elderly persons, spending much resources for little return. Are their efforts "heroic"? Discuss fully.

Essay Topic 3

Communication is usually taken for granted by most people. In his very injured state, Joe is unable to communicate for many months. Discuss one of the following:

1. Compare and contrast Joe's ways of communication before and after his war injury. In what ways does his personality come through even after he is injured?

2. Discuss how Joe compensates for not being able to communicate. What do you think Joe would have done had he never figured out a way to communicate?

3. When Joe's "captors" realize his views about war, what do they do to keep Joe from communicating? How do you think this would ultimately affect Joe long term?

(see the answer keys)

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