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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 term does Grossman use in Chapter 6 to indicate the method one uses to kill in hand-to-hand-combat?

2. In Chapter 2, what is significant about the Civil War muskets examined by Grossman?

3. According to Grosman in Chapter 5, why do combatants choose the slash rather than thrust with edged weapons?

4. According to Grossman at the end of Chapter 2, what is the most effective treatment for psychiatric casualties?

5. Which of the following is a component of Demands of Authority as delineated in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the metaphor Grossman uses for fortitude in Chapter 6?

2. According to Grossman in Chapter 4, how do soldiers deal with guilt and horror in combat?

3. How does the Yale electroshock study connect with Grossman's thesis in Chapter 1?

4. What assertion regarding military psychiatrists does Grossman make at the end of Chapter 8?

5. In Chapter 4, what philosophical and literary justifications for killing does Grossman cite?

6. What is a crew-served weapon?

7. How did military predictions regarding civilian bombings and psychiatric casualties prove completely wrong in World War II?

8. What is punishment justification?

9. As described in Chapter 2, why are snipers given the cold shoulder in the military?

10. What is the silent conspiracy does Grossman discuss in Chapter 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At one point in ON KILLING, Grossman describes the roots of fear and group bonding that can lead to an atrocity like the My Lai massacre. Write a three-part essay on the factors that lead to an atrocity in war, using My Lai as a framing device:

Part 1) How does fear of an unseen enemy make atrocities more likely in war? Discuss the way in which this creates emotional distance between noncombatants and soldiers. How does a catalyzing event, like an attack on the unit, further increase the likelihood of this sort of atrocity?

Part 2) What form of empowerment is felt in an atrocity? Discuss how the active and powerful decision to kill those whom one suspects of complicity in suffering can empower a soldier. What sort of possible catharsis can occur as a result?

Part 3) Discuss the group cohesion that can occur as a result of an atrocity? How does killing unarmed noncombatants bond a group of soldiers together? Conversely, discuss how the decision not to take part in an atrocity becomes dangerous as a result of this cohesion.

Essay Topic 2

At the beginning of ON KILLING, Dave Grossman pointedly lists his conservative opinions and prejudices, saying he wants to be clear with the reader as to his natural inclinations from the start. How does this affect ones reading of the policy discussion that follows? Do these prejudices seem to affect his domestic recommendations more than his military recommendations? How so? What ideology is he espousing in the latter sections of the book?

Essay Topic 3

Much of Grossman's book is dedicated to explaining how the Vietnam War was rifer with psychiatric casualties than any previous war. Write an essay comparing the Vietnam conflict to previous conflicts in several regards. What factors were in play that made it more detrimental to servicemen? What support did they lack, on the whole? In essence, how did these failings manifest themselves, and have they since been addressed?

Part 1) Unit cohesion

Part 2) Mature, experienced leadership

Part 3) Public validation upon return

(see the answer keys)

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