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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 Ardell tell Pavlo to do after being found close to death?

2. When Pavlo asks how the man in the Corporal's story "knew," what was the Corporal's answer?

3. What does Pavlo shout out at the end of Act 1, Part 4?

4. How does Pavlo first respond to the army recruits?

5. What does Ardell remind Pavlo of in the event of a radiation attack?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the playwright use both the inconsistent plot-line and paradoxical aspects of Pavlo's character traits to create an introduction that makes the audience want to watch more?

2. How is Brisbey's talk on the depth of the ocean a metaphorical slight towards Pavlo?

3. In the final scene, how does Wall live up to the metaphorical meaning of his name?

4. How does the action unfolding in Act 2, Part 4 blur the line between delusion and reality in Pavlo's mind?

5. Pavlo seems to respond to events in many different ways. Explain how his response to Pierce, when Pierce urges him to fight back, can be viewed as a highly perceptive and telling one for the audience about Pavlo's life views.

6. In what way does Pavlo try to become "a good soldier"? Explain what seems to get in the way of this endeavor.

7. How is Pavlo's interactions and awareness of Brisbey and his plight of significance to the audience's understanding of what happens to people as a result of being involved in war?

8. How is the incident of Pavlo taking the aspirin and not waking up during the other trainees' games symbolic? How is this foreshadowing?

9. How are the opening scenes of this play different than others? Plot-wise, hypothesize over the purpose of this style of opening.

10. Why is Pavlo's unnecessary killing of the elderly Vietnamese man included in Act 2, Part 4? Extrapolate the significance of including this moment in this scene.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In terms of Pavlo's innocence about people, again we see in this scene that his he does have compassion for his fellow soldiers. However, his methods of going about connecting with his fellow soldiers don't have anything to do with who they are. It's all about what he, Pavlo, feels and believes. His attitude is centered in the common enough desire to be liked and respected and above all seen as an individual with value. This is connected to his desire for an identity. If he's seen, for example, as someone with a colorful family or a colorful history, that defines him and gives him an identity. Explain by citing examples from the play how Pavlo's ego-centrism gets in the way of all of his goals and desires to become the man he wants to become.

Essay Topic 2

In the early scenes Ardell is seen to be something of a guide, showing Pavlo both the way into death and the way into himself, but in one scene he becomes a manifestation or externalization of Pavlo's inner drive to be a good soldier. This is illustrated by the way he drills Pavlo on the use of his weapon, and in later scenes, he performs similar instructional functions in similar circumstances. Identify and explain other moments during which Ardell becomes an externalization of Pavlo's inner life.

Essay Topic 3

Brisbey's passing reference to Christ, who is never mentioned by name, but whose identity and sacrifice are evoked by Brisbey's reference to God being "nailed" is the possibility that the idea of sacrifice arising from this reference can be applied to Pavlo's situation. Pavlo's situation can be seen as the sacrifice of individual identity in the name of a larger "God-given" purpose. How else might Brisbey's use of the word "nailed" be a possible implication by Rabe that the good man always gets the bad end of things? Would you say that this could be a foreshadowing device about the fate of our protagonist? Why or why not? Support your argument with examples from the text.

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