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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. Why won't the Scotchman fight the Bavarian?

2. Why does Joe decide a particular day is New Year's Day?

3. What does talking to Lucky bring Joe?

4. On what side of the hospital is Joe's room?

5. What does Joe do when he realizes he can feel the dawn?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Bonham lose track of everything and what does he do?

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

3. What happens to Joe in his third year in the hospital?

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

5. Why can't Bonham stand the train and what does he do when he sees Christ?

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

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

8. What obstacle does Joe see in their granting his request and what is his solution?

9. Describe the process of the new nurse attempting to communicate with Joe.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 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

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.

(see the answer keys)

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