View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do new nurses do with Joe?

2. What does the day nurse do with Joe?

3. What does the man tell Joe when the man returns?

4. How does Joe feel when the nurse leaves the room?

5. Why doesn't Joe see Laurette after graduation?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Joe say every Allied nation expects?

2. What does Joe think about to try and use his mind?

3. What is Bonham's initial thought when asked what he wants and why do you think this is so?

4. What does the day nurse do with Joe?

5. What does Bonham realize he wants?

6. What did Lucky survive in America and how did she survive it?

7. How does Joe envision his nurses?

8. What do you think it means when Joe thinks that two billion people have been pushing the lid of his coffin down and covering him with dirt and stone.

9. Describe Bonnie Flannigan and what does she tell Joe?

10. What does a doctor do when Joe keeps tapping and what does Joe think is the reason why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Bonham recalls much of his life, and in a sense, writes a "memoir" in his mind. One aspect of a memoir is the idea of memory. Discuss the following:

1. How accurate do you think Joe's recall is about specific incidents in his life? Explain.

2. Do you think Joe is more or less likely to remember his past considering his present situation? Explain your reasoning.

3. Does recalling his life help Joe remain self-aware? Why or why not? Why would he want to remain self aware?

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

Joe Bonham wonders why people are so inconsiderate, and feels more like he is coming out of ether rather than hung over, and is tired of hearing that his father is dead and going home. Father can die only once, so the phone must be part of a dream.

1. Joe is lying in a VA hospital with horrific injuries. He feels like he is coming out of ether. He is. The world at the moment seems unreal to him. Explain the flashbacks and images that Joe has in his head at the beginning of the book.

2. Almost all of this book is written as flashbacks to Joe's life before he was injured. How did this narrative technique enhance the book? Given Joe's injuries, discuss any other options the author may have had to tell the story.

3. How did the fact that this book is almost entirely flashbacks affect the pace? What about the plot? How did it enhance or obscure the themes?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,248 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample