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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What book does Pyle go on and on about?
(a) The Yellow Peril
(b) The Red Badge of Courage
(c) Democracy and the Eastern Cultures
(d) The History of War

2. How was Pyle killed?
(a) Someone poured gasoline on him and set him on fire.
(b) Someone stabbed him before dumping his body in the mud and he drowned.
(c) Someone strangled him and threw his body in the river.
(d) Someone shot him in the head.

3. How do Fowler and the others eventually leave Phat Diem?
(a) They make a huge raft and go down the river that Fowler came up on.
(b) They stay in the cathedarl until the French retake the city.
(c) They are rescued at night by French helicopters.
(d) Fowler marches with others through farmland. Everyone's nerves are taut with fear yet it is very boring.

4. What is Graham Greene's definition of the quiet American?
(a) Not the obnoxious pushy kind of person that is often the stereotype of Americans in foreign countries.
(b) The Teddy Roosevelt type who speaks softly but carries a big stick.
(c) An American who works alone in a large office.
(d) An American who has lost his voice.

5. What does Fowler find so annoying about the letter from Pyle?
(a) The letter is annoyingly long.
(b) The letter is annoyingly boyish.
(c) The letter is annoyingly rude.
(d) The letter is annoyingly illiterate.

6. What does a priest offer Fowler?
(a) To hear his confession
(b) To give him a ride to Saigon
(c) To notify his relatives
(d) To let him stay in the rectory

7. What does Miss Hei want from Fowler?
(a) Information about Pyle
(b) Money
(c) To see him some opium
(d) Permission to visit Phuong at his apartment

8. How does Pyle tell Fowler he got to Phat Diem?
(a) Pyle says he parachuetted out of a plane.
(b) Pyle tells Fowler he hiked the whole way.
(c) Pyle relates how he came to Phat Diem alone and by boat.
(d) Pyle says he came in a military Jeep.

9. How do the Vietminh infiltrate the city?
(a) The Vietminh join their procession for Fatima and take them by surprise.
(b) The Vietminh arrive as traders looking for business.
(c) The Vietminh enter the city dressed as nuns.
(d) The Vietminh come in as rice traders.

10. What does Fowler think is Pyle's obsession?
(a) Politics and York Harding's theory of democracy and public policy
(b) Taking out corrupt politicians in countries friendly to the USA
(c) Weeding corrupt administrators out of charities
(d) Getting Coca Cola into every country in the world

11. Where and with whom is Thomas Fowler as The Quiet American begins?
(a) He is walking along the beach on the China Sea.
(b) The story opens with Fowler in his rooms over the rue Catinat in Saigon with his beautiful young lover Phuong.
(c) He is flying into Saigon from a trip he made to England.
(d) He is at the Continental having a cappuccino with his editor.

12. What does Fowler dream after he finally falls asleep?
(a) He dreams of fine food and wine.
(b) He dreams of taking his opium pipe at home.
(c) He dreams of walking in the meadows of England.
(d) He finally falls asleep and dreams of Pyle and Phuong dancing.

13. What does Fowler do to see who will win Phuong?
(a) He wires his new service and turns down the job.
(b) He sends a message to London that Fowler has not returned from Phat Diem.
(c) He plays a dice game and suddenly tells Pyle that he's going back to England.
(d) He proposes marriage to Phuong as soon as he can get a divorce.

14. What happens to wounded French soldiers when no helicopters are available to rescue them?
(a) French special forces go in on foot to bring them to safety.
(b) They are given poison pills to take if they fear being captured.
(c) Vietnamese civilians have formed a brigade to rescue them.
(d) Without helicopters, wounded soldiers have little chance of getting carried to a hospital. They are left to die where they fall.

15. What is Alden Pyle's Passion?
(a) Scotch and soda
(b) Phuong
(c) Getting the French out of Vietnam
(d) To reform and redeem the entire universe

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Joe the Attache speak crudely about Phuong?

2. What does Fowler tell Pyle to do so that the girls will stop mobbing him?

3. What does the Attache put in the wire to Pyle's parents?

4. In contrast to the American press corps men, how does Fowler assess Pyle?

5. What rumors about Pyle have been circulated and find their way to Phuong?

(see the answer keys)

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