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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. What does Joe want to do most as he is lying in bed injured?

2. What is Jose's ethnic background?

3. When does Joe become aware of the war?

4. What does Joe think would be wonderful when he was thinking about the nurse and the rat?

5. What does Joe decide when he figures out he's deaf?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Joe think when he thinks of his family and what does he see as the reality?

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

4. What doesn't Joe understand about being alive?

5. Who is the pilot who comes to Joe's hometown, what does he do and what does the superintendent of schools say about airplanes?

6. What does Joe see on the way home from the train station?

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

8. How far does Joe walk to get to the bakery and how much money does he make?

9. 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?

10. How does Joe feel about the nurse bathing him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

One of the obvious themes in this book is that of helplessness. Obviously, in Joe's condition, he is totally helpless in a way that most cannot even imagine. Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of helplessness throughout the book, using examples from the text.

2. The opposite of helplessness is power--personal power in this case. Compare and contrast the theme of helplessness to the theme of personal power as it appears in the book.

3. How do you think you might be able to gain personal power in a situation such as Joe's? Is there a situation in your life in which you feel helpless? How can you gain some personal power in that situation?

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