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 some men wonder about Marlowe and the King?

2. What does Smedly-Taylor offer Grey to appease him about the weights?

3. How does Lt. Grey find the tampered weights?

4. Where does Townsend get the ring?

5. What does the King tell the officers that sobers them briefly as they are laughing and playing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the pursuit and escape of Marlowe with the money.

2. Who intercepts Lt. Grey as he goes to arrest Prouty and Marlowe, and why does Grey allow himself to be distracted?

3. With what does Larkin surprise Marlowe and why does he do so?

4. Who does the King invite to start up a rat breeding operation and what is the plan?

5. How does Marlowe manage to obtain a radio and what is the King's reaction?

6. What does Dr. Kennedy say about Marlowe's arm?

7. Why will the airfield detail have an agreeable aspect to it?

8. Why does Sean refuse to go on stage and what changes his mind?

9. How do Marlowe and the King reestablish their friendship after the King blows up at Marlowe about the radio?

10. Why isn't Marlowe successful in going after the money and how is he care for with the medicines Timsen gets?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 12, as the King haggles with Torusumi about selling a wath, King is very much aware of the fact that saving Face is an essential element of the Asian mindset. If the King gives Torusumi the opportunity to save face, it will make for a more successful transaction and keep Torusumi from seeking revenge. Discuss the following:

1. Research the concept of "saving face" and write in your own words a definition for the concept.

2. How does the King allow Torusumi to "save face"?

3. Does the King seem concerned with saving face in this transaction? What about in any other situation in the book?

4. Which characters seem concerned with saving face? How do they demonstrate this?

Essay Topic 2

Right from the very beginning, it is obvious that some men will survive their experience in the camp and some will not. Discuss one of the following:

1. Describe the physical/emotional/spiritual/psychological characteristics of the men who survive and do so quite well in the camp. Who are some of those men? Describe each one briefly.

2. Describe the physical/emotional/spiritual/psychological characteristics of the men who do not survive or fare poorly in the camp. Who are some of those men? Describe each one briefly.

3. Analyze your own personality and discuss whether you think you would be a survivor or not. Choose several situations and discuss how you would have managed them.

Essay Topic 3

Lt. Grey feels in a moral quandary about using paper from a Bible to roll cigarettes. Discuss the following:

1. Discuss several moral quandaries in which various characters find themselves. What usually wins out: morality or survival?

2. Are all the moral choices about survival? Are there other moral choices the characters have to make that has nothing to do with their survival--or are all choices in a place such as Changi linked to survival?

3. Discuss five characters and the limits they put upon themselves as far as their choices between right and wrong. In other words, do the characters have a point at which they will not go beyond even to ensure their survival?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,426 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample